US says it will abstain on UN vote on Cuba embargo

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States announced Tuesday that it will abstain for the first time in 25 years on a U.N. resolution condemning America's economic embargo against Cuba, a resolution it had always vehemently opposed.

The announcement by U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power ahead of a vote on the resolution was greeted with applause in the 193-member General Assembly.

Power said the U.S. was abstaining because of President Barack Obama's new approach to Cuba, but she made clear that the United States "categorically" rejects statements in the resolution suggesting the embargo violated international law.

She also stressed that abstaining "does not mean that the United States agrees with all of the policies and practices of the Cuban government."

"We do not," Power said. "We are profoundly concerned by the serious human rights violations that the Cuban government continues to commit."