UN General Assembly votes on Cuba's annual resolution against US embargo

Mixed · 2Cuba presented a resolution to the UN General Assembly, with debate on Tuesday and a vote on Wednesday, demanding an end to the decades-long US economic embargo. 1 2 Mixed · 2The resolution, titled "Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States of America against Cuba," is nonbinding, so the Assembly cannot compel Washington to lift the embargo. 1 2 Mixed · 2It is the 34th time the resolution has been put to the Assembly, since 1992. Last year it passed with 165 votes in favour, seven against and 12 abstentions, and it is expected to pass by a large margin again. 1 2

Centre · 1Cuban UN Ambassador Ernesto Soberón said the US State Department, its UN mission and American embassies worldwide were trying to weaken traditional support for the resolution, saying "They are trying to change historical positions at gunpoint." This was reported by Cuban station Radio Angulo, via Anadolu Agency. 1 Left · 1The Associated Press wrote that it is unclear whether the Trump administration's overt campaign will produce more opposition or abstentions, including among Western allies, than in earlier years. 2 Left · 1On Tuesday, US Ambassador Mike Waltz and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez had a shouting match in the Assembly hall. Rodríguez went to the podium during Waltz's criticism of Cuba's government and called him a liar, and Waltz told him to back away and said "This is America." A similar exchange between Waltz and Soberón took place a week earlier outside a US-hosted panel with Cuban dissidents. 2

Left · 1Rodríguez wrote on X that the US government was making "another desperate attempt to justify its economic aggression against Cuba and its criminal energy blockade." 2 Mixed · 2The vote comes during a severe economic crisis in Cuba. Soberón cited prolonged power outages and difficulties accessing medicines, food and drinking water. The AP says Trump's late-January announcement of tariffs on any country supplying oil to Cuba effectively cut off fuel, causing widespread outages, and that Trump last week again raised the possibility of military intervention, saying US warships could stop in Cuba on their way back from the Iran war. 1 2 Mixed · 2Accounts of the embargo's origin differ in detail: Anadolu says it was formally established in February 1962 under President John F. Kennedy, while the AP says it was first imposed in 1960 after Fidel Castro's revolution and nationalisations of US-owned property. 1 2