Oct 29, 2025
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday delivered another decisive rebuke of Washington’s decades-long economic restrictions on Cuba, with 165 member states voting in favor of ending the US blockade.
Despite strong US lobbying ahead of the vote, only seven countries opposed the resolution, while 12 abstained, underscoring the persistent global consensus against the embargo that has targeted the island nation for more than 60 years.
Against and abstentions
The votes against the resolution were cast by the United States, “Israel”, Argentina, Paraguay, North Macedonia, Ukraine, and Hungary.
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Moldova, Romania, and Poland are the countries that abstained.
Cuba hails victory
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel hailed the vote as a testament to his country’s resilience, describing Cuba as “noble and steadfast,” unbowed by what he called the “restless, brutal, hypocritical, and deceitful empire.”
He added, “The crude pressure from the Yankees managed to sway a few, but the majority of the world once again voted alongside Cuba for life.”
On his part, Cuba’s Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, celebrated the United Nations General Assembly’s vote against the US blockade as a triumph of truth and resistance, declaring on X: “Victory of #Cuba. Victory of the peoples. Victory of truth against imperialist lies.”
He expressed gratitude to the countries that stood by Cuba, calling their support a defense of truth. Rodríguez also denounced what he described as the United States’ “criminal policy”, which has deprived Cuba of access to global banking systems, investment capital, remittances, technology, and even essential goods such as food, fuel, and medical supplies.
He emphasized that the blockade continues to inflict “incalculable suffering” on the Cuban people by isolating the country from international markets and partnerships.
“No campaign of lies can overcome the power of the truth we defend,” he affirmed, underscoring that the resolution’s overwhelming approval for the “33rd time demonstrates the rejection of this genocidal policy that lacks moral justification.”
Why it matters
For more than six decades, the United States has imposed a harsh and unilateral economic embargo on Cuba, one of the longest-running sanctions in modern history. Designed to pressure the Cuban government, the embargo has instead inflicted severe economic hardship on ordinary Cubans, causing chronic shortages, restricted access to medicine and technology, and stunted development across key sectors.
Beyond the island, US policies have destabilized regional trade in Latin America and the Caribbean, forcing neighboring countries to navigate restrictions and political pressure while limiting their own economic engagement with Cuba.
Critics argue that the embargo reflects a broader pattern of US interventionism in the region, prioritizing geopolitical dominance over human welfare, and has repeatedly failed to achieve its stated goal of the US systematic pursuit of regime change in countries that defy its hegemony, leaving ordinary populations to bear the brunt of the suffering.
Is the vote binding?
The General Assembly can pass resolutions on a wide range of issues, including sanctions, human rights, and political matters. However, unlike the UN Security Council, which can adopt binding decisions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, GA resolutions are recommendatory.
They express the collective opinion of member states but do not compel states to act.
Cuba as a case study
The UNGA has voted almost annually since 1992 to call for the end of the US embargo on Cuba, often by overwhelming majorities. However, while these votes signal global condemnation and exert diplomatic pressure on the United States, they do not legally require Washington to lift the embargo.
What effect does it have?
UNGA resolutions can influence international norms, strengthen diplomatic campaigns, and affect a country’s global reputation, but compliance is voluntary.
Cuba’s allies celebrate decision
Venezuela congratulates Cuba on its ‘resounding’ victory
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela issued a statement congratulating the Cuban people, government, President Díaz-Canel, and former President General Raúl Castro on the vote. Caracas called the UN vote a “resounding victory for Cuba, the world, and the principles of dignity and international law in the face of imperial aggression.”
Venezuela condemned the US blockade as an act of economic warfare and state terrorism intended to subjugate a sovereign nation and stressed that Washington’s coercive campaign had failed to sway the international community.
The statement framed the vote as evidence of a rising multipolar world rejecting imperial arrogance and praised Cuba’s moral authority as a model for nations striving for independence and justice.
Reaffirming solidarity with Havana, Caracas reiterated its call for the immediate, full, and unconditional lifting of the blockade, alongside the reversal of all unilateral coercive measures. Venezuela pledged to “stand always with the homeland of Martí and Fidel, following the teachings of Commander Hugo Chávez.”
Iran welcomes UNGA vote, slams US sanctions on Cuba
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei welcomed the UN resolution condemning US sanctions on Cuba, reiterating his country’s condemnation of the continuation of what he called “inhumane sanctions”.
Baghaei added that “the US sanctions have targeted the Cuban people and the development of this country for six decades and constitute a blatant violation of the UN Charter.”
The Iranian spokesperson reiterated Tehran’s solidarity, both the people and the government, in the face of US pressure, considering the UN resolution “proof that the majority of the international community rejects US policy.”
Colombia says US left isolated at UN
Commenting on the decision, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro called Marco Rubio “a sectarian obstacle to peaceful relations between the US and the Americas.”
Posting on X, he said: “The US was left isolated at the UN during the vote on the blockade against Cuba: 165 countries voted in favor of lifting the blockade, only seven riders of the apocalypse voted in favor.”
Venezuela denounces US blockade on Cuba at UNGA
Earlier today, Venezuela strongly condemned the US economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed on Cuba, calling it a sustained act of aggression against a sovereign nation.
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday, Venezuelan Ambassador Samuel Moncada urged the international community to demand an immediate end to the decades-long US policy.
Moncada addressed the General Assembly on the eve of the vote on the annual resolution titled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”
“The blockade is an act of economic warfare that seeks to subdue an entire people through hunger, disease and death,” Moncada stated.
He warned that Washington’s portrayal of the blockade as a mere policy was deceptive, arguing it violates international law and amounts to collective punishment.
According to the Venezuelan diplomat, the US blockade caused more than $7.5 billion in damages to Cuba over the past year alone, severely affecting critical sectors such as health, education, energy, and food.
Moncada said such coercive measures are part of a broader strategy aimed at maintaining US hegemony in the region and undermining the sovereignty of independent nations.
Cuba’s medical diplomacy vs. US coercive strategy
The ambassador denounced what he described as US-led smear campaigns against Cuban doctors, as well as threats against Caribbean and African countries to dissuade them from accepting Cuba’s medical cooperation.
“While some countries send bombs and weapons, Cuba sends health workers,” Moncada said, emphasizing the stark contrast between Cuban internationalism and US foreign policy.
He added, “Cuba sends doctors, and that is why it is attacked, because its example exposes the hypocrisy of those who claim to defend freedom while they blockade nations and support the genocide of entire peoples.”
Venezuela also targeted by US aggression, Moncada says
Moncada highlighted that Venezuela has also been a victim of similar unilateral coercive measures from Washington, which he said are designed to destabilize sovereign governments.
He also rejected attempts by the US to link Cuba to the Ukrainian conflict, describing them as disinformation “fabricated in the State Department’s media laboratories.”
Furthermore, Moncada condemned Cuba’s inclusion on the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, calling it an “insult to truth and history.”
“Cuba does not sponsor terrorism, it has suffered from it firsthand, through attacks, sabotage, and aggressions organized from US territory,” he noted.
Lastly, the ambassador warned that US foreign policy violates the “Zone of Peace” declaration adopted by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a regional commitment to non-intervention and peaceful coexistence.
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