UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba for the 34th year, even as Washington’s campaign to influence the outcome led a number of countries to vote against the resolution or absent themselves from the vote for the first time.
The vote was 130 votes to 17, with 25 abstentions. Last year, the vote was 165 to 7, with 12 abstentions. Western countries such as Germany, Italy and Latvia are among those who abstained for the first time in 34 years.
Although these resolutions are not legally binding, they reflect world opinion. The vote before the world body comes as Cuba faces deepening financial crises while the United States steps up its already punitive economic campaign. Additionally, U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican, last week once again raised the specter of U.S. military intervention, saying U.S. warships could stop in Cuba upon their return from Cuba. the war in Iran.
Tensions between Washington and Havana have spilled over into public forums at the United Nations.
Tuesday, Mike Waltz, US Ambassador to the UN and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez got into a scuffle inside the General Assembly while debating the embargo resolution.
Shortly after Waltz began criticizing the socialist government, Rodríguez walked to the podium where the U.S. envoy was addressing the room and called him a liar while trying to get a point of order from the official presiding over the session.
“This individual needs to get away from this podium. He is not going to intimidate me in the United States of America,” Waltz said as U.N. security and staff tried to intervene. “Do you understand who you’re dealing with? This is America. Back off.”
In an article on X, Rodríguez reminded Waltz where he was making his remarks, saying he was at the UN and not a national security meeting at the White House.
“With its blatant lies to the UN General Assembly, the US government has launched yet another desperate attempt to justify its economic aggression against Cuba and its criminal energy blockade,” he continued.
A week earlier, a similar interaction between Waltz and his Cuban counterpart, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, took place before a U.S.-organized panel with Cuban dissidents and former prisoners who sought to highlight allegations of oppressive behavior by the island’s government.
All of this reflects a clear break with the traditional diplomatic decorum expected at the UN and the new phase of contention between the United States and Cuba.
The U.S. embargo against Cuba was first imposed in 1960 after Fidel Castro led a revolution that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista and nationalized property owned by U.S. citizens and businesses.
As a result, this Caribbean country has spent decades dealing with the dire consequences of long-standing economic and financial problems and is now pushed to a breaking point after Trump announced in late January that he impose tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba. The warning actually cut off fuel to the islandleading to widespread power outages that affect basic activities such as cooking, water supply, and internet and telephone services.
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Associated Press writer Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.
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