188 nations back UN vote against US Cuba embargo

A record-equalling 188 countries today backed an annual UN General Assembly vote condemning the five-decade-old US embargo against communist Cuba.

The United States found only one other country, Israel, to oppose the resolution, down from two allies in last year's vote, in a sign of mounting opposition to the blockade.

Three Pacific island states normally close to the United States -- Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau -- abstained as the barrage of criticism against the embargo reached a new peak in the 193-member UN Assembly.

China, Iran, which has launched a bid to thaw relations with the US administration, Latin American and African nations all publicly condemned the United States.

"The US policy against Cuba is suffering from an absolute international isolation and discredit and lacks every ethical or legal ground," Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said.

While the United States has eased travel restrictions on Cubans, Parrilla said: "Sanctions remain intact and are being fully implemented."

Cuba has lost more than $1.1 trillion dollars because of the embargo, according to the minister who told the meeting how the blockade prevents Cuba from getting heart and anti-AIDS drugs for children.

The United States is being used as an "external scapegoat" for the island's problems, a US diplomat, Ronald Godard, hit back in an address to the meeting.

"Our sanctions policy toward Cuba is just one of the tools in our overall effort to urge respect for the civil and human rights" upheld by the UN, Godard said.

He said that two billion dollars in remittances were sent to Cuba from the United States in 2012 and that the United States is the biggest foreign food supplier to the island.

"The international community cannot in good conscience ignore the ease and frequency with which the Cuban regime silences critics, disrupts peaceful assembly (and), impedes independent journalism," Godard said in an appeal to other countries to oppose the resolution.