The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution calling on the United States to lift its economic embargo against Cuba, which has been in place for almost half a century.

The General Assembly passed the non-binding resolution with 187 votes in favour and three against. It is the 18th consecutive year that the General Assembly has passed a resolution calling on Washington to lift the embargo. The international community had hoped that President Barack Obama would reverse the decades-old policy but although the White House has taken some steps towards easing tensions, the trade embargo has not been lifted.
 

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez says the economic embargo is an international problem and 56 countries have been fined or punished for breaking the embargo. Venezuela called on President Obama to show that he truly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize by lifting the crippling sanctions.
 

The trade embargo was instituted in 1962 and Havana says it has cost the island nation hundreds of millions of euros.