UN Votes Again in Opposition to the US “Blockade” on Cuba
In addition to the United States and Israel, five other countries rejected the motion with 12 abstentions.
HAVANA TIMES – The resolution promoted by the Cuban Government at the United Nations, entitled The need to end the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba, received 165 votes in favor, 7 against and 12 abstentions. Although the island’s chancellor, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, described the result on the social network X as a “victory for Cuba,” it is actually the worst diplomatic show of support for Cuba in the history of these votes.
Since the text was first introduced in 1992, it has never received more than four votes against. On this occasion, the usual ones – the United States and Israel – were joined by Argentina, Paraguay, North Macedonia, Hungary and Ukraine. Abstentions – 12 in total – have not reached a similar figure since 1998. The countries that chose to abstain were Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Moldova, Romania and Poland.
Although the resolution maintains a majority condemnation of the US embargo, the most significant political fact is the change in the diplomatic trend towards Cuba. Several Latin American and European states that traditionally supported Havana have begun to distance themselves from its historical position.
Since 1992, with the exception of 2020, when it was not presented because of the pandemic, the General Assembly has voted on this text almost every year, with always overwhelming results. The resolution initially received 59 votes in favor and 71 abstentions, but since 2005 support has regularly exceeded 180 countries.
The moment of greatest consensus was recorded in 2016, when 191 states supported the resolution and none voted against it, coinciding with the rapprochement between Barack Obama and Raul Castro. However, since 2017 Washington resumed its negative vote along with Israel, reissuing the traditional diplomatic confrontation. In 2024, the resolution received 187 votes in favor, so this year’s collapse reflects a substantial loss of support for Havana in just twelve months.
This shift occurs in the midst of an unprecedented economic and social crisis on the island, with chronic shortages, blackouts, the collapse of health services and a mass migration exodus. Although the embargo continues to affect the country’s economy, the official narrative of “blockade victim” is eroding against the evidence of more than six decades of authoritarian control, repression of dissent and absence of structural reforms.
During the preliminary discussion, the delegations of Cuba and the US engaged in a bitter exchange. Rodriguez interrupted US ambassador Mike Waltz, accusing him of “lying in a rude manner” and expressing himself with a “rudeness and arrogance” inappropriate for the forum. Waltz replied that the Cuban regime “oppresses its own people” and uses the country’s resources to maintain the “elite status” of its leaders, calling the government in Havana an “illegitimate communist legislature.”
In total, the UN has adopted 33 resolutions of this kind, with a symbolic rather than practical scope. The Cuban regime has turned the “blockade” issue into a pillar of its beleaguered plaza rhetoric, which it uses to justify internal failure, solicit donations, negotiate debt deferrals and keep its diplomatic machinery active. But the loss of support in the UN suggests that international patience with Havana is running out, and that the talk of the embargo is no longer enough to cover up the deep crisis of legitimacy of the Cuban system.
çTranslated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba.