UN overwhelmingly votes against US embargo on Cuba

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 8 (Reuters) The UN General Assembly told the United States today to lift its four-decade old trade embargo against Cuba in a resolution adopted for the 15th consecutive year with near unanimous support.

The vote was a record 183 to 4 with one abstention on a resolution submitted by South Africa. It called on Washington to lift its ''economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba,'' particularly provisions affecting foreign nationals.

Voting ''no'' with the United States were Israel, Marshall Islands and Palau. Micronesia abstained. Nicaragua and Iraq did not vote.

Australia attempted to amend the document by adding a paragraph saying that the US measures were motivated by ''valid concerns'' about the lack of freedom in Cuba and called on Havana to release political prisoners.

This fared a bit better but still was defeated by 126 to 51 and five abstentions. The European Union supported the Australian human rights amendment but voted for the resolution on lifting the embargo because of US regulations that punish foreign firms, said Ambassador Kirsti Lintonen of Finland.

The measure is nonbinding and has had no impact on the United States. The Bush administration has tightened the embargo, including restrictions on visits to Cuba, travel and remittances to families.

Cuba's Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told the assembly the US embargo prevented Havana from getting even modest credits from the World Bank and other institutions, prevented Cuba's trade with subsidiaries of US corporations abroad and barred foreign businessmen from the United States if they invested in Cuba.

''The economic war unleashed by the US against Cuba, the longest and most ruthless ever know, qualifies as an act of genocide and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law,'' Perez Roque said.

And he said President George W Bush approved a new measure that would deny exports of medical equipment used in health care programs for foreign patients.

But US envoy, Ambassador Ronald Godard, said the embargo was a bilateral issue between the United States and Cuba and not a matter for the General Assembly.

''We maintain this embargo so that the benefits of US food and medical sales go to the Cuban people,'' Godard said..

He denied that Washington limited the European Union's relations with ''third countries'' and said the Cuban government should institute ''free market reforms'' and human rights instead of blaming the United States for its economic hardships.

Godard also said it was untrue that the United States denied food to Cuba, when it was the biggest food supplier to Havana.

All Latin American countries supported the resolution. Mexico's UN Ambassador Enrique Berruga said UN agencies, such as UNICEF, reported that the embargo was harmful to Cuban children because of difficulties in acquiring equipment for victims of cancer and to purify water.

REUTERS DH BST0101