In brief
The UN approved the embargo lift with 130 votes in favor, 17 against, and 25 abstentions, down from 165 in 2025. Latin American and European countries shifted positions, and Cuban leaders decried U.S. sanctions. U.S. officials blamed Cuba’s internal policy for the outcome.
On October 28, the United Nations General Assembly voted to lift the U.S. embargo on Cuba, approving the resolution 130‑to‑17 with 25 abstentions. Compared with 2025, Cuba lost 35 votes in support, marking a significant shift in global backing.
Weapons of diplomacy, the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said the U.S. sanctions hinder fuel, medicine, and food supplies, calling them a form of genocide and a wind‑burning blockade that forces people into political coercion.
“The consequences fall on people, limit their fundamental human rights, affect third countries and turn the population's essential needs into instruments of political coercion,” said Rodríguez.
When the results were announced, Cuban President Miguel Diaz‑Canel called the vote a “victory for the heroic Cuban people” and praised the international community’s opposition to Washington’s pressure.
“This is a triumph of the truth over those who rely on lies and blackmail to subject an entire nation to collective punishment,” Diaz‑Canel said on X.
Key Latin American states changed stance: Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Paraguay moved from supportive to opposed or abstained; Chile, Peru and Honduras shifted from support to abstention; and the Dominican Republic abstained. European voters also altered roles, with Germany, Italy and Latvia choosing abstention rather than support. Twenty‑one countries abstained or were absent, a rise from 12 abstentions in 2025.
While the U.S. delegation criticized Cuba’s internal policy and the conduct of its delegates, it also pointed to the strategic form of the embargo in its own interests. African and European voices such as the Pan‑Africanist analyst Fortune Madondo, Italy’s Luciano Vasapollo, and Peru’s former ambassador Hugo Otero called on their respective regions to unite in support of Cuba, warning that Washington’s pressure could target other sovereign states.
