Facts
- The UN General Assembly voted 130 in favor, 17 against and 25 abstentions on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, to adopt a resolution condemning the Cuba embargo imposed by the United States. It was the 34th annual vote.
- Last year’s vote was 165 in favor, 7 against and 12 abstentions. UN News described this year’s result as the weakest backing for the resolution in two decades. Support peaked at 191 votes in favor from 2015 to 2017.
- The United States and Israel were among the 17 countries voting no. Germany and Italy, which had previously voted in favor, were among the abstentions, Al Jazeera reported.
- U.S. officials had lobbied countries to withdraw support. They pointed to the rise in abstentions as evidence that the effort to isolate Cuba is working, Al Jazeera reported. Cuban officials accused the U.S. of threatening countries with tariffs, visa restrictions and other penalties for voting to condemn the embargo. Al Jazeera said it had not received a response from either mission to a request for comment.
- During Tuesday’s debate, Ambassador Waltz cited more than $876 million in U.S. exports to Cuba in the first eight months of 2026 and argued that Cuba’s crisis stems from its own government, UN News reported.
- The Cuban-drafted resolution reaffirms the sovereign equality of states and freedom of trade and navigation, and expresses concern about the 1996 Helms-Burton Act. The General Assembly resolution is non-binding.
- The embargo was first imposed in 1960. UN officials say the Trump administration’s recent tightening of it has contributed to an energy crisis and humanitarian strain in Cuba, UN News reported.
Quotes
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told the Assembly: “There is no blockade.”
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla told the Assembly: “Cuba is not a threat, the blockade is.”
Source Read UN News’s report on the vote here.
Image United Nations General Assembly Hall (3) by Basil D Soufi, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
