Today, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution condemning the U.S. for its embargo of Cuba, causing Nikki Haley, who currently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, to push back.

For the 27th straight year, the UN General Assembly votes overwhelmingly in favor of resolution calling on US to lift its embargo on #Cuba.
189 to 2 with no abstentions. All US-proposed amendments to the resolution were rejected pic.twitter.com/JVMc8Qpxrb

— Melissa Kent (@KentUNCBC) November 1, 2018

The U.S. and Israel were the only two countries to vote against the resolution.

Yes, you read that right. Unreal. https://t.co/BzxF3AKVdU

— Archive: Ambassador Nikki Haley (@AmbNikkiHaley) November 1, 2018

Haley spoke before the U.N. General Assembly earlier today, in which she criticized the U.N.’s failure to condemn human rights abuses in Cuba and declared that the U.S. has “no problem standing alone on behalf of the things that we believe in.” An excerpt of her speech is available below:

Cuba and its allies do the same thing every year. 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.

But this resolution changes nothing. 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. The United States will continue to stand with the Cuban people until their rights and their freedoms are restored. Period. We won’t back down.

[…]

But the most regrettable fact of this resolution each year isn’t that the United States may stand alone in opposing it.

The most regrettable fact of this resolution is that it is a waste of everyone’s time. It’s one more time that countries feel they can poke the United States in the eye. But you’re not hurting the United States when you do this. You are literally hurting the Cuban people by telling the regime that their treatment of their people is acceptable.

The full video of Haley’s remarks is below, with the full remarks available here.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent those of any other individual or entity. Follow Sarah on Twitter: @sarahmquinlan.