Cuba accuses US of pressuring countries ahead of UN embargo vote
Cuba has accused the United States of threatening countries with retaliation if they do not support its position on an upcoming United Nations vote over the long-running embargo on the island. Havana says the pressure campaign includes tariffs, visa restrictions and other measures aimed at influencing how governments vote at the UN General Assembly. The annual resolution is nonbinding, but it has repeatedly drawn broad support in favour of calling for an end to the embargo.
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On Wednesday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the administration of US President Donald Trump was trying to sway members of the General Assembly ahead of the vote, expected on 27 or 28 October. Rodriguez said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Washington's ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, were personally leading the effort. He said the campaign had been under way for months and described it as a dangerous form of multilateral diplomacy.
Rodriguez alleged that US officials had threatened to suspend cooperation programmes, deny visas to government officials and their families, and even support opposition parties in future elections if countries refused to change their positions. He also said Washington had urged some states to abstain or stay away from the vote if they were unwilling to vote against Cuba. The US State Department and the US Mission to the UN had not responded to requests for comment by the time of publication.
The dispute comes as Cuba continues to press for international backing against the embargo, which began in the early 1960s and is widely described as the longest in modern history. Havana says the restrictions have worsened economic hardship on the island. Washington, meanwhile, has long argued that Cuba's economic problems are the result of the government's own policies rather than the embargo itself.
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The annual UN vote has become a recurring diplomatic flashpoint between Havana and Washington, with Cuba using it to rally support against the sanctions regime. The latest allegations also come amid broader tensions between the two governments. On Monday, Waltz accused Cuban diplomats of harassing and intimidating participants at a US-hosted panel on alleged human rights abuses in Cuba.
What remains unclear is whether the alleged pressure campaign will affect the size of the majority Cuba typically receives at the General Assembly. It is also not clear how many countries, if any, have changed their position because of the reported threats. The vote later this month will show whether the dispute has altered the usual pattern around one of the UN's most closely watched annual resolutions.
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