The UN General Assembly on November 9 overwhelmingly passed a resolution urging that all countries refuse to comply with the 38-year-long US blockade of Cuba. It passed with the support 167 votes, with only the US, Israel and the Marshall Islands voting against. Four countries abstained. The majority against the blockade was the largest since the General Assembly first debated the issue in 1992.

The resolution expressed concern that member states continued to pass laws giving effect to the Helms-Burton Act, passed by the US Congress in 1996, that restricts investment by non-US firms in Cuba by penalising their US operations. It said the blockade affected the sovereignty and legitimate interests of other states, and restricted freedom of trade and navigation.

The resolution called on all countries to “refrain from promulgating and applying laws and measures” giving effect to the embargo, and to “to repeal or invalidate” similar laws “as soon as possible”.

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