UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday abstained for the first time from a United Nations General Assembly vote on a resolution calling for an end to a U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, after opposing such measures every year for 24 years.

For the 25th time, the 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution with 191 votes in favor. Israel, which opposed the resolution last year, also abstained on Wednesday. Such resolutions are non-binding, but can carry political weight.

Communist-run Cuba and the United States, former Cold War foes, began normalizing relations in 2014. U.S. President Barack Obama has taken steps to ease trade and travel restrictions on Cuba, but only the U.S. Congress can lift the full embargo.

The Republican-controlled Congress has resisted Obama’s call to lift Washington’s economic embargo after more than 50 years. Republican critics say Obama is making too many concessions to Cuba for too little in return, especially on human rights.

The U.N. General Assembly applauded when U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power announced prior to the vote that the United States would abstain.

“Abstaining on this resolution does not mean that the United States agrees with all of the policies and practices of the Cuban government. We do not,” Power told the General Assembly.

“We are profoundly concerned by the serious human rights violations that the Cuban government continues to commit with impunity against its own people,” she said.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described the abstention as a “positive step for the future of improving relations between the United States and Cuba.”

Rodriguez said in September that damage from U.S. sanctions between April 2015 and March 2016 amounted to $4.6 billion and to $125.9 billion since the embargo’s inception more than 50 years ago.

A vintage car passes by the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, September 21, 2016. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

In March, Obama made the first visit to Havana by a U.S. president in 88 years. His trip was made possible by his breakthrough agreement with Cuban President Raul Castro in December 2014 to cast aside decades of hostility that began soon after Cuba’s 1959 revolution.

Since the opening, Obama has repeatedly used his executive powers to relax trade and travel restrictions, while pushing Cuba to accelerate market-style reforms and boost political and economic freedoms.

The U.N. resolution adopted on Wednesday takes note of the steps taken by Obama as positive but “still limited in scope.” It urges the United States to repeal or invalidate the embargo on Cuba as soon as possible.</s>For First Time, U.S. Abstains On U.N. Resolution Criticizing Cuba Embargo

Enlarge this image toggle caption Ramon Espinosa/AP Ramon Espinosa/AP

The U.N. General Assembly votes every year on a resolution calling for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba. The U.S. has always opposed the symbolic measure.

But today, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N Samantha Power told the General Assembly that for the first time, the U.S. would abstain.

It's part of a new approach by the Obama administration, she told the member states: "Rather than try to close off Cuba from the rest of the world, we want the world of opportunities and ideas open to the people of Cuba. After 50-plus years of pursuing the path of isolation, we have chosen to take the path of engagement."

The vote was 191-0. Israel joined the U.S. in abstaining.

The White House explicitly opposes the half-century-old embargo and has taken a series of actions aimed at easing it, while calling on Congress to repeal it completely. The U.S. and Cuba began normalizing relations in 2014, and President Obama made a landmark visit to the island nation earlier this year.

US will abstain for first time on UNGA Resolution calling for end to embargo on Cuba. No reason to vote to defend a failed policy we oppose — Ben Rhodes (@rhodes44) October 26, 2016

"No reason to vote to defend a failed policy we oppose," Ben Rhodes, a top White House adviser, tweeted. "The embargo denies opportunities to Cubans and isolates the U.S. For the sake of our interests and the Cuban people it should be lifted."

So why abstain, rather than vote in favor of the U.N. resolution? As Power put it: "I have to be clear, we don't support the shift for the reason stated in this resolution."

The resolution calls for U.N. member states to stop applying laws that, among other things, are in violation of the U.N. charter and those that limit international trade and navigation. As Power said in her remarks, "All actions of the United States with regard to Cuba have been and are fully in conformity with the U.N. Charter and international law. ... We categorically reject the statements in the resolution that suggest otherwise."

Every yr, @UN votes to end US embargo agnst #Cuba. We've always voted "no." Today, for 1st time ever, we abstained. pic.twitter.com/cbNyy0NRdp — Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower) October 26, 2016

This was the 25th time that the U.N. General Assembly has voted on a resolution calling for an end to the embargo, which has been in place since 1962, as Reuters reported. The wire service says the resolution is "non-binding, but can carry political weight."

In her comments, Power noted that "abstaining on this resolution does not mean that the United States agrees with all of the policies and practices of the Cuban government. We do not." She pointed to instances in which government critics have been arbitrarily detained and restrictions on the flow of information to the island.

She characterized today's abstention as a "small step" and closed her remarks by saying she hoped for more such steps — including "finally ending the U.S. embargo once and for all."</s>UNITED NATIONS, UNITED STATES: The United States will for the first time abstain from a vote at the United Nations calling for an end to the US embargo against Cuba, Ambassador Samantha Power said Wednesday.

“The United States has always voted against this resolution. Today the United States will abstain,” Power told the General Assembly, drawing loud applause. -AFP</s>UNITED NATIONS -- The U.S. abstained Wednesday for the first time in 25 years on a U.N. resolution condemning the United States' economic embargo against Cuba, a measure it always had vehemently voted against.

The U.S. was joined in abstaining by Israel, the only other country to vote against the embargo resolution in the General Assembly last year. When the vote -- 191-0 with two abstentions -- was shown on the electronic board, diplomats from the 193 U.N. member states burst into applause.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power announced the abstention just before the vote, saying that the U.S. policy of isolation toward Cuba had "isolated the United States, including here at the United Nations."

"After 55-plus years of pursuing the path of isolation, we are choosing to take the path of engagement," she said.

Each year, the U.N. General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to urge the United States to end its economic embargo of the island. In 2015, the vote was 191-2, with only Israel joining in a vote against the measure.

The U.S. decision to change its vote comes after President Barack Obama's restoration of full diplomatic relations with Cuba and his support for lifting the embargo, which the Republican-led Congress is against.

Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced Dec. 17, 2014, that they were restoring diplomatic ties, which were broken in 1961 after Fidel Castro took power and installed a communist government. On July 20, 2015, diplomatic relations were restored and embassies of the two countries were reopened, but serious issues remain, especially the U.S. call for human rights on the Caribbean island and claims for expropriated property.

The U.S. abstention in the General Assembly vote was certain to anger both Republican and Democratic opponents of lifting the 55-year-old embargo, but it reflects Obama's belief shortly before he leaves office that it's time to move ahead in normalizing U.S.-Cuban ties.

Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, the last speaker before the vote, said Cuba is "grateful" for Power's efforts and words and thanked her for the U.S. abstention.

"A change in vote by the United States is a promising signal," he said. "We hope it will be reflected in reality."

Rodriguez said the embargo, calling it a "flagrant violation of international law," is still in force and being implemented by U.S. agencies, and while the executive measures taken by Obama were positive, they have "very limited scope and effect."

"The president of the United States has ample executive prerogatives that he has not fully used, as he could still do to substantially modify the practical implementation of the blockade and its economic and humanitarian impact," he said. "Lifting the blockade is the key to be able to advance towards the normalization of relations with the United States. ... The blockade is unjust, inhuman, immoral and illegal and should unilaterally and unconditionally cease."

Obama has called on lawmakers to lift the sanctions. But while several bills have been introduced to do that, Congress has not acted. Some members have objected that despite increasing normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations, the island's government continues to violate the human rights of its citizens with political arrests and other restrictions.

Indeed, there were immediate protests in the U.S. Congress.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez from New Jersey, the son of Cuban immigrants, tweeted that the U.S. decision not to defend the "long-standing, bipartisan, human rights-based US law ... is shameful." Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas tweeted that the act that imposed sanctions on Cuba "isn't a 'failed policy' ... [and] is the law of the United States, which should always be defended and upheld."

U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart and Sen. Marco Rubio, all Republicans from Florida, also blasted the abstention, saying the Obama administration had failed to honor and defend U.S. laws in an international forum.

Diaz-Balart said the U.S. should stand in solidarity with the Cuban people, "rather than siding once again with their oppressors." Rubio accused the United Nations of giving "voice and legitimacy" to America's adversaries.

"It's no surprise the United Nations would endorse economic concessions to the Castro regime," Rubio said. "But it is shameful for the Obama administration to refuse to abide by existing U.S. law and to dismiss the will of the American people."

Mauricio Claver-Carone, executive director of the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC, a political action committee, called it "perhaps the most egregious breach" of Obama's constitutional responsibilities and oath of office.

Those working to lift the embargo said the vote acknowledged that the "obsolete" policy had no place in international affairs.

"As Cuba continues to play a growing and constructive global role, our policy of isolation not only weakens our international credibility but threatens our national security, as well as our economic and human-rights interests in the region and around the world," said James Williams, the president of Engage Cuba, a coalition of people and organizations working to lift the embargo.

General Assembly resolutions are nonbinding and unenforceable. But the 25-year-old exercise in which the world body has overwhelmingly voted to condemn the embargo does reflect world opinion and has given Cuba a global stage to demonstrate the United States' isolation on its Cuba policy.

A U.N. report estimated that the embargo has inflicted more than $1 trillion in accumulated economic damage over more than 50 years.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called the embargo the "most unjust, severe and long-lived system" of sanctions ever applied against a country.

Before the vote, more than 20 speakers from all over the world denounced the embargo and urged the U.S. Congress to quickly lift the ban on trade and financial dealings.

The U.S. administration had considered abstaining from the vote a year ago, but concluded it could not do so because the resolution did not reflect what it considered to be the spirit of engagement between Obama and Raul Castro.

Power made clear that the United States "categorically" rejects statements in Wednesday's resolution suggesting the embargo violated international law.

She also said that abstaining "does not mean that the United States agrees with all of the policies and practices of the Cuban government. We do not.

"We are profoundly concerned by the serious human-rights violations that the Cuban government continues to commit with impunity against its own people."

She cited Cuba's detention of government critics, threats and intimidation of participants in peaceful marches and meetings, and severe restrictions on outside information.

But the United States and Cuba, she said, "must continue to find ways to engage, even as our differences persist. Today, we have taken another small step to be able to do that. May there be many more -- including, we hope, finally ending the U.S. embargo."

In Havana, Cuba organized a vote-watching party on the campus of the University of Havana, where students and government supporters followed the events on an hourslong special live state news broadcast projected onto a giant screen.

The tone of the coverage was triumphant, calling the U.S. abstention a historic victory for Cuba but cautioning that it was meaningless without congressional action.

"The blockade is still in force but this means that there's been a change in attitude at the highest levels of U.S. government and politics," said Raul Palmeiro, a 21-year-old law student and president of the university's official Student Federation.

Information for this article was contributed by Edith M. Lederer, Matthew Lee, Josh Lederman and Michael Weissenstein of The Associated Press; by Karen DeYoung of The Washington Post; and by Franco Ordonez of Tribune News Service.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Wednesday will abstain for the first time from a U.N. resolution criticizing America's economic embargo against Cuba, according to diplomats familiar with the matter. Such a step would effectively pit the Obama administration and Cuba with the world body against the Republican-led Congress, which supports the 55-year-old embargo despite the U.S. resumption of full diplomatic relations with Cuba.

The diplomats said the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, will explain the decision shortly before the U.N. General Assembly vote. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the vote publicly.

A U.S. official said Power would point to elements of this year's resolution that the U.S. does not back, despite its overall support for lifting the embargo, as the reason why the U.S. was abstaining instead of voting for the resolution outright.

The U.S. has always opposed the annual resolution condemning the embargo. But an abstention would be in keeping with the administration's belief that the embargo should be lifted as part of normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba.

General Assembly resolutions are nonbinding and unenforceable. But the 24-year-old exercise in which the U.N. overwhelmingly votes to condemn the embargo has given Cuba a global stage to demonstrate America's isolation on its Cuba policy.

The administration had considered abstaining from the vote last year but concluded it could not do so because the resolution did not reflect what it considered to be the spirit of engagement between Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro.

The 2015 vote ended up 191-2 to condemn the commercial, economic and financial embargo against Cuba; it was the highest number of votes ever for the measure. Only Israel joined the United States in opposing the resolution.

Obama and Castro announced on Dec. 17, 2014, that they were restoring diplomatic ties, which were broken in 1961 after Fidel Castro took power and installed a communist government.

On July 20 last year, diplomatic relations were restored and embassies of the two countries were reopened, but serious issues remain, especially the U.S. call for human rights on the Caribbean island and claims for expropriated property.</s>UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States announced it will abstain for the first time in 25 years on a U.N. resolution condemning America's economic embargo against Cuba, a resolution it had always vehemently opposed.

The announcement by U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power on Tuesday ahead of a vote on the resolution was greeted with applause in the 193-member General Assembly.

Power said the U.S. was abstaining because of President Barack Obama's new approach to Cuba, but she made clear that the United States "categorically" rejects statements in the resolution suggesting the embargo violated international law.

She also stressed that abstaining "does not mean that the United States agrees with all of the policies and practices of the Cuban government."

"We do not," Power said. "We are profoundly concerned by the serious human rights violations that the Cuban government continues to commit."</s>For the first time in a quarter century, the United States plans to abstain Wednesday in the annual United Nations vote condemning the U.S. policy toward Cuba, Obama administration officials said.

Each year, the U.N. General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to urge the United States to end its economic embargo of the island. In 2015, the vote was 191-2, with only Israel joining in a vote against the measure.

Last year, following its re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, the Obama administration said it was prepared, for the first time, to abstain in the vote, provided Cuba agreed to minor alteration in the wording of the resolution. It argued that President Barack Obama had used his executive authority to soften many of the restrictions, but that only Congress could fully repeal the embargo, first adopted in 1962 and strengthened in 1992 and 1996.

Cuba refused, saying that as long as the embargo remained U.S. law, there was no point in softening the wording of condemnation.

Obama has repeatedly called on lawmakers to lift the sanctions. But while a number of bills have been introduced to do that, and public opinion polls indicate the American public favors removal of the embargo, Congress has not acted. Some members have objected that, despite increasing normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations, the island's government continues to violate the human rights of its citizens with political arrests and other restrictions.

The General Assembly vote is not legally binding. But since it was first voted on in 1992, it has provided an annual opportunity for other countries to publicly criticize U.S. policy. It describes the embargo as a violation of various international laws and principles and calls on "all states" to refrain from unilateral interference with the internal affairs and trade freedoms of other nations.

It has never garnered more than three votes in opposition - the United States, Israel, and the occasional Eastern European or Pacific island nation.

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is expected to speak at Wednesday's General Assembly session to explain the U.S. abstention decision.</s>On Wednesday, however, the US took the small but significant step of changing its vote to an abstention on the annual UN General Assembly resolution calling for an end to the US economic embargo of the island nation.

For 25 years, the US has been on the losing end of the lopsided, if legally non-binding, vote. Traditionally, only a handful of smaller nations side with the US. This time, the US and Israel alone abstained, while the 191 other UN member countries voted for the resolution. The measure calls on countries to repeal laws that restrict freedom of trade and navigation.

The biggest reason for the switch, of course, is the warming relations between the US and Cuba.

President Barack Obama is in favor of lifting the embargo entirely as part of the countries' rapprochement. But the US Congress is opposed, citing in particular Cuba's human rights violations. Still, the White House has been able to open up some avenues of exchange, including regular plane flights between the two countries, unthinkable only a few years ago. In March, President Obama made the first visit to Cuba by a sitting president since 1928. US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power drew cheers at the UN when she explained the US switch in position Wednesday. And a tweet from Power put it in simpler terms, noting that every year the UN votes to end the US embargo against Cuba. "We've always voted 'no.' Today, for the 1st time ever, we abstained," she tweeted. Obama administration officials said the abstention was due to the continued isolation of its island neighbor being harmful to the people of Cuba. Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes tweeted there "is no reason to vote to defend a failed policy we oppose." U.S. President Barack Obama attends a baseball game in Havana, Cuba, with his family and Cuban President Raul Castro, right, on Tuesday, March 22. The Cuban national team was playing an exhibition against Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays. Obama is the first U.S. President to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. Obama waves to the crowd before delivering his speech at the Grand Theater in Havana on March 22. In his speech, Obama urged Cubans to look to the future with hope, casting his historic visit as a moment to "bury the last remnants of the Cold War in the Americas." First lady Michelle Obama and her daughter Malia stand with children of U.S. Embassy workers after dedicating a bench and two magnolia trees at a small park in Havana on March 22. The Obamas pose with Castro before a state dinner in Havana on Monday, March 21. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, speaks with Cuban First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel ahead of the state dinner on March 21. Castro tries to lift up Obama's arm at the end of a joint news conference on March 21. Obama meets with Castro in Havana on March 21. Michelle Obama speaks with Cuban girls during a Let Girls Learn roundtable in Havana on March 21. Obama lays a wreath at the Jose Marti monument in Havana's Revolution Square on March 21. "It is a great honor to pay tribute to Jose Marti, who gave his life for independence of his homeland," Obama wrote after he laid the wreath. "His passion for liberty, freedom, and self-determination lives on in the Cuban people today." Backdropped by a monument depicting revolutionary hero Che Guevara, Obama listens to the U.S. national anthem during the wreath-laying ceremony on March 21. Obama and Castro review troops before bilateral meetings on March 21. Obama walks up the stairs of the Palace of the Revolution on March 21. Obama and members of the first family take a walking tour of a Havana cathedral on Sunday, March 20. The first family stops to look at a painting of Abraham Lincoln in the Museum of the City of Havana on March 20. Obama's convoy drives along the Malecon sea wall on March 20. The President and first lady greet families of embassy personnel on March 20. Obama and his family exit Air Force One on March 20. But Power still told the General Assembly that abstaining on the resolution didn't mean that Washington agrees with all the policies of the Cuban government. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla told the UN that despite progress between the two countries, the economic and financial blockade is seriously harming the Cuban people and hurting economic development. He added that lifting the embargo was the key to advancing towards normalized relations with the US. Power indicated Wednesday's abstention was a small step in efforts at further engagement with the Cuban people, even amidst the outstanding differences with the government. "May there be many more," she said, including "we hope, finally ending the embargo."</s>Yesterday’s U.N. General Assembly vote was the 25th time Cuba has marshaled international support against the embargo and Cuba usually wins overwhelming support for a resolution which is non-binding, President of the Guyana-Cuba Solidarity Movement (GCSM) Haleem Khan said.

 He explained that U.S. sanctions cost Cuba over $4.6 billion last financial year.

 He joined the call on U.S. President Barack Obama to do more to ease the pressure in the spirit of improved relations between the two countries.

 “The blockade is the main cause of the economy’s problems and obstacle to development,” Khan asserted.

 Khan noted that since Presidents Obama and Raul Castro stunned the world in December 2014 by announcing they would work to normalize relations, the Cold War foes have opened embassies, restored commercial flights, opened travel options and negotiated agreements on issues affecting the environment, law enforcement, the postal service and communications.

 Obama, who visited Cuba earlier this year, has also gradually poked holes in the embargo through executive orders.

 More than 100 U.S. business delegations have visited Cuba since 2014 and around 300,000 Americans are expected to arrive this year under looser travel restrictions. U.S. telecommunications companies have signed roaming agreements, a Carnival cruise ship makes regular stops and a Havana hotel is under U.S. management.

 But many U.S. companies say the embargo makes business nearly impossible.

 Cuba and its people trust that they can count on the growing support of the international community in their legitimate claim to put an end to the blockade.

 “We need to have the 24 resolutions adopted by the international community at the UN General Assembly respected. By an overwhelming majority, the UNGA Member States ask for that absurd policy to be put to an end, along with respect for international law and the fulfillment of the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, the Guyana Solidarity President said “Therefore we invite the senators and representatives of the United States to take a historic step on the side of ethics, justice, freedom and peace, in voting to lift the blockade against Cuba, for the benefit of both peoples.”</s>HAVANA- United Nations agencies submitted a report to the Gener al Assembly on the damage inflicted by the US economic, financial and commercial blockade of Cuba as the international community readies to vote the island´s resolution today demanding the lifting of the unilateral and extraterritorial US policy.

According to PL news agency, more than 30 UN entities submitted their views in the report they addressed to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon particularly in their fields of interest.

The World Health Organization, after praising the high health indicators reached by Cuba, alerted on the hurdles posed by the blockade on the island´s efforts to access medical products, equipment and technologies. The World Trade Organization on its part questioned the US policy aimed at promoting brain drain by inciting Cuban doctors to abandon their international missions in other nations. The UN Children Fund, UNICEF, regretted the difficulties posed by the blockade on Cuban kids, particularly in the health and education services. This agency explained about the problems faced by a Havana children hospital specialized in heart diseases which cannot access biological materials for implants of high quality.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization described the impact of the blockade on its field by saying that Cuba cannot export to the United States, which increases costs to reach far-away markets. The agency also explained about the hurdles faced by the island to purchase machinery, fertilizers and other resources necessary for agriculture. Cuba cannot yet use the US dollars in its transactions, despite a recent announcement on that issue by the White House, said the Economic Commission for Latin America, ECLAC.

Other agencies that joined the report to the UN secretary general included UNESCO and UNDP. The agencies welcomed the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Havana and Washington and the packages of initiatives adopted by US president Barack Obama to modify the US blockade. For the 25 year in a row, the UN General Assembly will vote today the Cuban resolution demanding the end of the US blockade of the island. Last year 191 out of all 193 UN member states backed the Cuban resolution, only the United States and Israel voted against. ( ACN)…[+]
For the first time in 25 years, the United States abstains in a United Nations vote calling for an end to its Cuban economic embargo.