Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the United States on Wednesday in Havana of threatening UN member states to change their votes on the annual resolution calling for an end to the embargo. He spoke of tariffs, visas, the suspension of cooperation programmes and support for opposition forces. It is a diplomatic accusation. The vote has not been held. The threats are not independently confirmed.

Al Jazeera, with Reuters, writes that the resolution is non-binding and that the General Assembly usually backs Cuba on it almost every year since 1992. Rodríguez said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and UN ambassador Mike Waltz were personally leading the campaign, and had been doing so for months. On X he called it “a new and dangerous way of conducting multilateral diplomacy.” He also said Washington was urging some countries to abstain or skip the vote if they would not vote against Cuba.

Al Jazeera asked the State Department and the US mission to the UN for comment; by publication it had received none. Reuters, carried by El Nuevo Herald, records the same news conference: “unprecedented” pressure, at times “personal and brazen” from the secretary of state himself. Rodríguez’s list of threats includes punitive tariffs, suspended cooperation, backing for opposing forces, electoral interference. Those remain his claims. They are not a proven file.

Waltz, on Monday, called on countries to vote against the resolution, which he called a lie used to justify oppression. He acknowledged that Washington had asked European colleagues to reconsider their support, citing Ukrainian allegations about Cubans fighting for Russia. Admitted lobbying is not the same list of threats Rodríguez read out on Wednesday.

The vote is expected on 27 or 28 October. Only the US Congress can lift the embargo that dates from the 1960s. A resolution in New York does not repeal it. Wednesday’s accusation does not stand in for the ballot.

Source consulted: Cuba accuses US of threatening countries ahead of UN embargo vote — Al Jazeera.

Image: El Capitolio and classic cars on the Paseo del Prado, Havana, 18 March 2025, fragandaphoto, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The Capitol, not Wednesday’s news conference.

Sources consulted: Cuban foreign minister accuses the US of threatening countries — El Nuevo Herald / Reuters.