The United Nations General Assembly has voted 130-17 to call for an end to the US economic embargo of Cuba, but support for the resolution fell sharply after Washington lobbied countries to sit out the vote. It is the weakest backing for the measure in decades.
The Assembly has condemned the embargo every year for 34 years. Wednesday’s vote, with 25 abstentions, compares with 165-7 and 12 abstentions last year. The resolution is not legally binding, but it is read as a gauge of world opinion.
Western allies sit out for the first time
Germany, Italy and Latvia were among the Western countries that abstained for the first time in 34 years. Several other countries, including Bosnia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Lithuania, Morocco, North Macedonia, Paraguay and Slovenia, voted against the resolution, most for the first time.
The shift came after a US campaign to influence the outcome. US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told member nations their vote was the only thing standing between Cuba’s government and another propaganda victory.
A shouting match on the Assembly floor
Tensions spilled into the open on Tuesday, when Waltz and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez clashed during the debate. Rodriguez walked up to the podium, called Waltz a liar and tried to raise a point of order. UN security stepped in as the exchange grew heated, and Waltz told the Cuban envoy: “This is America. Back up.”
Rodriguez told the Assembly that Cuba is not a threat, and that the blockade itself is the threat. Cuba is facing a deepening financial crisis, with outages and shortages, while the US increases its economic pressure. President Donald Trump last week also raised the spectre of US military intervention, saying US warships could stop over in Cuba.
An embargo since 1960
The US embargo was first imposed in 1960, after Fidel Castro’s revolution, and has shaped Cuba’s economy ever since.
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