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Cuba denounces US pressure ahead of UN vote as Washington accuses the regime of using the ballot
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez denounced on 21 October “extreme and unprecedented” pressure by the United States on member states ahead of the debate on 27 and 28 October. The State Department maintains that the Cuban government uses the annual vote against the embargo to stay in power.
Rodríguez said at a news conference on 21 October that Donald Trump's administration is applying “a set of methods amounting to a real policy of coercion and blackmail,” in remarks translated by Yamacoa, to get several countries to change their vote: tariff threats, the cancellation of cooperation programs, sanctions, visa denials for officials, interference in electoral processes and threats of political destabilization. The foreign minister displayed State Department documents convening meetings at the United Nations and a video of United States ambassador Mike Waltz asking certain countries to leave the room or abstain. The debate and the vote are set for 27 and 28 October.
Díaz-Canel expects to lose votes in that session and blamed the loss of support on the cowardice of other governments, according to Cubanet, which recalls that the Cuban resolution against the embargo received 165 votes in favor in 2025, down from 187 in 2024.
Washington frames it in different terms. According to Diario de Cuba, the United States government accuses the Cuban regime of using the annual vote to push a victim narrative, to “cling to power” and to “keep enriching those who hold power while exploiting its own people,” in wording translated by Yamacoa.
Sources: EFE, vía Infobae · Cubanet · Diario de Cuba
Data updated: 2026-10-23T04:15:00.000Z