The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to condemn the U.S. embargo against Cuba for the 20th year in a row. The final vote was 186 to two. The United States and Israel were the only nations to vote against the resolution. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said that the sanctions have caused direct economic damages of close to $1 trillion to the Cuban people over nearly half a century.

Bruno Rodríguez, Cuban foreign minister: “The only thing that has changed over the last 50 years, Mr. President, has been the blockade and the hostile, aggressive policy of the United States, in spite of the fact that this policy has not worked or will it ever. However, what the U.S. government wants to see changed will not change. The Cuban government will continue to be the government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

American Ambassador Ronald Godard criticized the United Nations vote on the U.S. embargo of Cuba.

Ronald Godard, U.S. Senior Adviser, Western and Eastern Affairs: “For yet another year, this assembly is taking up a resolution designed to confuse and obscure. But let there be no confusion about this. The United States, like most member states, reaffirms its strong commitment to supporting the right and the heartfelt desire of the Cuban people to freely determine their future. And let there be no obscuring that the Cuban regime has deprived them of this right for more than half a century.”