UN resolution: US blockade on Cuba must end

ANKARA

The UN General Assembly passed a resolution Thursday demanding the U.S. end its blockade against Cuba that has continued for 60 years.

The resolution underlines the need to end the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by Washington.

"The blockade is real and we will defeat it with the support of the international community that in an overwhelming majority today voted alongside Cuba," Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez said as he welcomed the result on Twitter.

"[One hundred and eighty-seven] countries vote for the end of the blockade," Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla wrote on the microblogging platform. "It is a triumph of truth and justice."

The assembly voted 187-3, with 2 abstentions.

The U.S., Israel and Brazil opposed the resolution, as was expected, while Colombia and Ukraine abstained.

For 28 consecutive years, the UN has approved with an increasing majority, the Cuban resolution, demanding the U.S. lift sanctions against the Caribbean island.