U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed the U.N. Thursday as they once again voted overwhelmingly in support of a resolution condemning the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
The U.S. and Israel were the only countries to vote against the resolution.
Haley spoke during the U.N. General Assembly ahead of the vote.
"Cuba and its allies do the same thing every year,” she said. “They propose a resolution blaming Cuba's poverty, repression and lack of freedom on the United States. They falsely blame America for all kinds of evil things, even genocide."
RT @USUN: It's unthinkable that for 27 yrs UN members have blamed the US for denying human rights and freedoms to the Cuban people. Instead, countries should be focused on the real cause of the Cuban people's suffering—the dictatorship that has oppressed its people for decades. pic.twitter.com/Zu5NEdnn2Y
— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) November 1, 2018
She emphasized that the resolution did not help the Cuban people and reiterated the reasons the United States had for the embargo.
"This resolution changes nothing,” she said. “It doesn't help a single Cuban family. It doesn't feed a single Cuban child. It doesn't free a single Cuban political prisoner. Those who support this resolution every year have it wrong. Our reason for the embargo is and has always been Cuba's denial of freedom and the denial of the most basic human rights for the Cuban people."
Haley also dispensed with the objection that softening U.S. policy towards Cuba would aid the people.
“Supporters of the resolution claim that a change in U.S. policy would somehow transform life for the Cuban people,” she said. “But the government of Cuba doesn’t agree. It responded to the softening of our Cuba policy under President Obama with more, not less, political repression of its people.”
“You're not hurting the United States when you do this," she told those supporting the resolution. "You're literally hurting the Cuban people by telling the regime that their treatment of their people is acceptable."
Following the vote, Haley said that “the U.N. has lost, it has rejected the opportunity to speak on behalf of human rights.”
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