Follow-Up: UN General Assembly Votes 130-17 to Urge End to US Embargo on Cuba, With Support Down 35 Votes From Last Year
UNITED NATIONS, New York — The United Nations General Assembly voted on October 28 by 130 votes in favor, 25 abstentions and 17 against to adopt a resolution urging an end to the decades-long United States economic embargo on Cuba. GSM previously reported that the Assembly opened debate on the resolution on October 27, with the 34th annual vote set for October 28. Last year, the same resolution passed by 165 votes in favor, 12 abstentions and 7 against — 35 fewer votes in favor this year, with both opposition and abstentions rising sharply.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told reporters after the vote that he was satisfied that so many countries, including major economies such as Germany, Italy and South Korea, had shifted their positions. "Diplomacy takes time, but now that we've had a tripling of countries that have shifted, we expect that to only to continue to grow," he said. According to Reuters, Germany and Italy abstained for the first time in many years.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said in a post on X after the vote that the US government was "once again isolated in its attempt to continue strangling the Cuban people and subjecting them to an act of collective punishment and genocide," adding that neither its pretexts, pressures nor "media circus" would prevail over the force of facts.
The General Assembly has adopted the resolution annually for more than three decades, except in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. The resolution carries political weight but is not binding; only the US Congress can lift the embargo. The United States has maintained the trade embargo on Cuba for more than 60 years, and the Trump administration has recently stepped up pressure on Havana. Ahead of the vote, tensions between the two delegations escalated into shouting matches in the corridors and on the floor of the General Assembly.
Related:
Source: GSM · America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于纽约的联合国总部资料图（Dendodge 摄，公共领域，Wikimedia Commons），非10月28日表决现场。File photo of United Nations headquarters in New York (by Dendodge, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); not the October 28 vote.
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- 2026-10-28Follow-Up: UN General Assembly Votes 130-17 to Urge End to US Embargo on Cuba, With Support Down 35 Votes From Last YearThis story
