Despite an aggressive United States pressure campaignThe United Nations General Assembly voted Wednesday for the 34th time to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba, with 130 countries voting in favor of the resolution, 25 abstaining and 17 countries, including the United States and Israel, voting against.
The diplomacy of the Trump administration push against the annual resolution – led by US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz – was even more intense than the one from last year. This also follows a similar event unsuccessful efforts made this summer by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to close a debate of the General Assembly on July 7 on the escalation US economic sanctions against Havana and humanitarian aid disaster it rushed.
Although the pressure failed to defeat the measure, it did cause a notable change in the vote count. Compared to last year, 10 more states voted against the measure and 13 more states abstained, including countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Last week, in anticipation of the vote, Waltz hosted a small group of WE–supported Cuban dissidents And researchers for an invitation-only event arguing against the resolution, citing the island’s political prisoners, foreign medical brigades, corruption, inequality and military monopoly, GAESA. The same day, Waltz hosted a press conference with the CEO of Freedom House titled “Holding the Cuban Regime Accountable for its Human Rights Violations,” where he urged other countries’ ambassadors to consider these issues before voting.
At a press conference a few days before the American media blitz, Cuba’s ambassador to the UN, Ernesto Soberón, called The Waltz event was the result of Rubio’s “unhealthy obsession with Cuba” and staged a protest against Waltz and the event’s panelists as well as his colleagues at the Cuban mission to the UN.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parilla went further the next day in Havana, alleging that U.S. officials had threatened to impose tariffs, deny visas to foreign officials and their families, and withhold U.S. aid to countries that did not vote with the United States on Wednesday.
Rodríguez has presented no concrete evidence to support these claims, but in recent weeks Rubio has publicly press Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, whose country has not participate in last year’s vote, to “join with the United States and its like-minded partners to advance shared priorities at the United Nations,” emphasizing that the Cuban government “will not carry out the reforms that the Cuban people deserve if they believe the international community is on their side.”
Rubio also recently spoke with the presidents of Panama, Argentina And Colombia — all close allies of the Trump administration — on “regional,” “hemispheric,” and U.N.-related issues, although it was not immediately clear whether the vote on Cuba was specifically addressed.
Similar to last year pushWaltz invoked the presence Cubans fighting for Russia in Ukraine to pressure European capitals not to support the Cuban UN resolution.
In a recent statementThe Cuban government reiterated its “zero tolerance policy” against mercenarism, asserting that “none of the Cuban citizens who participated or are participating in any of the parties to this conflict benefit from the encouragement, support or consent of any state or Cuban governmental institution.” Authorities say investigations into the recruitment of Cuban citizens abroad to fight in Ukraine have resulted in 43 people being brought before Cuban courts in 12 separate proceedings, with prosecutors seeking sentences ranging from 5 to 16 years.
Simmering tensions between long-time adversaries overturned publicly during the first day of debate this week, when Rodríguez Parilla interrupted and approached Ambassador Waltz as he showed images of alleged corruption by Cuban leaders, call on a point of order.
“He is not going to intimidate me in the United States of America like he tries to intimidate political prisoners,” Waltz retaliated in Rodriguez.
“You are a liar”, Rodríguez retorted.
After a Cuban diplomat attempted to prevent one of Waltz’s staff members to film him asking UN employees to mute Waltz’s microphone, Waltz told Fox News that Rubio had sign on the expulsion of the Cuban diplomat from the United States.
Although this year’s nonbinding vote garnered slightly more support for the U.S. position than before pass years, this nevertheless reflects the limits of the diplomatic pressure exerted by the administration – and its null character impact on the resolution of critical situation of the Cuban people.
But the increased pressure from the State Department hasn’t pleased everyone. In Europe and the Middle East, Lithuania, Slovenia and the United Arab Emirates broke with their historical position by voting against the resolution, while in Latin America and the Caribbean, Costa Rica, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras and Chile – which traditionally support Cuba’s efforts – opposed the resolution or abstained.
Nonetheless, other U.S. allies who have criticized Cuba’s political and economic system have maintained their strong stance against the decades-long system of unilateral coercive measures that they say claimindiscriminately punishes the Cuban people, violates international law and discourages reforms related to human rights or the island’s economic system.
“Mexico maintains that the use of unilateral measures as a means of exerting external pressure to influence the internal decisions of a sovereign State is incompatible with the principles enshrined in the charter of this organization,” Mexican Ambassador to the UN Hector Vasconcelos said during the debate.
“Restrictions on fuel exports to Cuba have worsened the country’s current energy crisis. Shortages have disrupted essential services, including health care, education, water supply, food distribution and transportation,” added India’s representative to the UN.
Earlier this year, Cuba presented a report, submitted alongside the draft UN resolution, on the impacts of US sanctions on the country’s economy, claiming more than $8 billion in losses and damages resulting from the maximum pressure of US sanctions under the Trump administration.
So far this year, the United States has threat impose 30% customs duties on countries that send fuel to Cuba, created a new secondary sanctions regime targeting foreign companies operating on the island, and issued dozens of new sanctions and visa restrictions against the country’s officials, ministries, joint ventures, state-owned enterprises and start-ups. private sector.
This unprecedented pressure comes in the middle threats of military and covert actions on the island to force the regime to comply, alongside direct talks between senior US officials. defense, intelligence And policy officials and their Cuban counterparts, as well as reports of behind-the-scenes deals and posturing aimed at assume control of Cuba’s main economic assets.
Most recently, Friday, Rubio called on Cuban leaders to enter into a “discreet partnership” with the CIA – a move seen as an effort to scare Havana with the specter of covert operations – and Trump said during the election campaign in Florida, that American warships returning from the Middle East could stop in Cuba when returning from the war in Iran.
“What we’re going to do with Cuba is we’re going to come back from Iran. These beautiful ships will go through Cuba. We’ll have one stop about 50 yards from the coast. They’ll raise their hands. And then we’ll send Marco Rubio to finalize the deal,” Trump said, reiterating his message. pledge he did five months ago.
Editor’s Note: This breaking news story was last updated at 11:56 a.m. US Eastern Time.
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