Support for UN vote against US embargo on Cuba falls to 30-year low
The UN General Assembly again passed a resolution calling for an end to the US embargo on Cuba, but only 130 countries backed it, the lowest since 1995. Latvia, Germany and Italy abstained for the first time in 34 years.
The United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday again adopted a resolution demanding an end to the US economic, trade and financial embargo on Cuba. It passed with 130 countries in favour, 17 against and 25 abstentions. That is the lowest level of support since 1995; last year more than 160 countries backed it. The vote matters as a gauge of international opinion, although the resolution is not legally binding.
The resolution has been put forward and approved almost every year since 1992. Germany, Italy and Latvia abstained for the first time in 34 years. Several countries voted against, including Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Morocco, Slovenia and Bosnia, many of them for the first time.
US pressure campaign
The US embargo dates to 1960, after Fidel Castro's revolution and the nationalisation of US-owned property. Relations are currently very tense: Washington has renewed a pressure campaign that includes restrictions on oil supplies and broad sanctions, which have severely damaged Cuba's economy. In January, President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba. That sharply cut fuel deliveries and contributed to widespread power cuts and disruption to water, internet and telephone services.
In recent weeks the Cuban government has accused the US of waging a diplomatic offensive to pressure countries into withdrawing support for the resolution. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused Washington of seeking to "determine the nation's destiny" and "seize" its wealth.
Tension in the Assembly
Just minutes before the vote, US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz denied that Cuba was under a blockade and said the plight of the Cuban people was "exclusively the fault of this corrupt communist regime." During the session he accused senior Cuban officials of living in luxury while ordinary Cubans faced shortages, holding up pictures of Cuban leaders, including President Miguel Díaz-Canel, wearing luxury watches. Members of the Cuban delegation repeatedly banged on their desks in protest. Rodríguez also approached Waltz and accused him of lying, while Waltz shouted for him to back away.
Writing on X, Díaz-Canel accused the US of "gangster-like coercion" and said the world had again spoken out overwhelmingly against the blockade despite US pressure.
