Reversing course, US votes against UN resolution condemning Cuba embargo
WASHINGTON _ Reversing another Obama-era policy, the Trump administration on Wednesday voted against a United Nations resolution that condemned the half-century-old U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.
Only Israel voted with the United States against the resolution, which called for an end to the economic embargo imposed by Congress early in the Cold War.
A total of 191 countries approved the resolution at a U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York.
The U.S. ambassador always voted against the annual, nonbinding resolution since it was first introduced 25 years ago _ until last year.
After President Barack Obama restored diplomatic relations with Cuba and took steps to improve relations with the Communist-ruled island, the U.S. last year abstained. Obama urged Congress to lift the embargo.
The Trump administration cited Cuba's human rights abuses as reason to keep the embargo. President Donald Trump has vowed to roll back other improvements in economic and political ties with Cuba, although he has left the diplomatic opening largely intact.
_Tribune Washington Bureau
