Brazil has sided with the United States for the first time in choosing not to condemn the U.S. embargo against Cuba during the annual United Nations resolution vote Thursday. The U.N. General Assembly still voted overwhelmingly to condemn the U.S. embargo, with 187 out of 193 countries voting against the United States. This is Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.

Bruno Rodríguez: “The blockade has caused incalculable humanitarian damages. It is a flagrant, massive and systematic violation of human rights. It qualifies as an act of genocide under Articles 2(b) and (c) of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted in 1948. There is not one single family that has not suffered the consequences of this.”