US Wins Over 23 More Countries in UN Vote Against Cuba Embargo
(Bloomberg) — The United Nations General Assembly again called for the end of the US embargo on Cuba in a symbolic vote, but the number of countries opposing the motion was the most ever after a push by President Donald Trump’s administration to curb support.
The annual resolution decrying sweeping economic sanctions against the communist-run island passed Wednesday with backing from 130 countries, but Washington won over 23 additional countries compared to last year. The number against the motion ticked up — with 17 opposed and 25 abstaining this year, compared to seven opposed and 12 abstaining last year.
The UN General Assembly has voted nearly every year since 1992 to demand that Washington end the embargo. But the measure isn’t legally binding and the US routinely ignores it. Trump’s ever-tighter sanctions on Cuba have been criticized as collective punishments by human-rights advocates and UN experts.
In Latin America, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica — all governed by Trump allies — joined Argentina in opposing the motion, as did Trinidad and Tobago in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Chile, Peru and Honduras, which also elected conservative governments, joined the abstain column, as did Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana and the Dominican Republic. The Trump administration has increased diplomatic efforts and courted conservative leaders in the region.
In Europe, Bosnia-Herzogovina, Czechia, Lithuania and Slovenia voted against, as did Morocco in Africa and the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East. Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Croatia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro switched their votes to abstentions, as did South Korea, Qatar, Bahrain, Palau and the Solomon Islands.
Tensions between Washington and Havana were running especially high ahead of vote.
On Tuesday, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz got into a shouting match with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez after the diplomat approached the podium in the middle of Waltz’s speech.
“This is America, my friend,” Waltz said to Rodríguez, while asking him to back up. “This isn’t your communist dictatorship. You cannot silence me, and you cannot silence my colleagues.”
The theatrics at the UN come amid a much broader deterioration in relations between Washington and Havana.
Cuba has become increasingly isolated since the ouster of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, a longtime ally and crucial economic partner. The Trump administration, meanwhile, imposed a de facto fuel blockade and steadily intensified pressure on the communist government, raising fears in Havana that Cuba could itself become a target of US military action.
Waltz defended the US sanctions that have been in place since the 1960s and called out members of the late Fidel Castro’s family for wearing Rolex watches and going on European vacations while people in their country struggle. As Waltz spoke, members of the Cuban delegation shouted in protest and banged on their desks.
Cuba’s government blames the embargo — which prohibits most trade and financial transactions with the Caribbean nation and was tightened during Trump’s first administration — for widespread shortages of food, medicine and basic goods on the island.
In the lead-up to the vote, the US mounted unusually public diplomatic efforts to erode support for the resolution condemning the embargo.
Last week, at a US-backed event called “Cuba Libre,” Waltz invited Cuban dissidents and other advocates to the UN to make the administration’s case as he urged diplomats to side with Washington.
Cuban diplomats gathered outside the event before and afterward, confronting participants and shouting insults as they left — a scene reminiscent of how Cuba’s state security agents harass government critics on the island.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
