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The Cuban regime has reactivated its diplomatic machinery for another symbolic vote at the United Nations.
On October 24, the Cuban Association of the United Nations (ACNU) —an organization controlled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX)— will hold the XXI Forum of the Cuban Civil Society against the Blockade, which is part of the traditional campaign leading up to the annual resolution calling for an end to the U.S. embargo.
In its official statement, the Foreign Ministry reiterates its narrative: the embargo “violates fundamental human rights,” “impedes development,” and has caused “losses of 7.556 billion dollars in the last year” and “accumulated damages of 170.677 billion at current prices, equivalent to 2.1 trillion at gold value.”
However, no independent source has been able to verify those figures, and the Cuban regime has never published a methodology that would allow for comparison.
The alleged "accumulated losses" are based on internal calculations that mix historical prices, hypothetical growth rates, and conversions to the value of gold, lacking academic support and transparency.
The data that doesn't fit
Academic reports and international organizations dismantle part of that narrative.
A study by the Latin American Studies Center at Columbia University (2022) estimated that the embargo could reduce Cuba's annual GDP growth by between 0.5 and 1 percentage point, but emphasized that the main causes of the economic stagnation are internal: low productivity, lack of structural reforms, state centralization, and disinvestment.
Similarly, the Brookings Institution (2021) concluded that, even without sanctions, “the Cuban economic model would remain inefficient due to the dominance of state enterprises and the limited openness to foreign capital.”
Despite the rhetoric of "total blockade," Cuba does maintain a steady volume of trade with the United States, primarily in food and medicine.
According to data from the Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2024, U.S. exports to Cuba exceeded $370 million, the majority consisting of frozen chicken, soybeans, corn, and wheat. Today, the United States is one of the five largest food suppliers in the Cuban market.
Moreover, the State Department has reiterated that the embargo does not prevent the sale of food, medicine, or humanitarian supplies, as long as the Cuban government pays for them in cash.
In 2023, the U.S. embassy in Havana reported that medical exports to the island were approved for over 800 million dollars, double that of 2021, countering the argument that sanctions block access to pharmaceutical products.
The State Department itself clarified in August 2025 that "the real problem of Cuba is not the blockade, but the country's political system," and reminded that U.S. sanctions are primarily aimed at the military and security apparatus of the regime, not the Cuban people.
This policy is reflected in the list of restricted entities updated in February 2025, which prohibits transactions with companies controlled by the Armed Forces and the GAESA conglomerate, but does not restrict private trade of the so-called Mipymes or humanitarian imports.
Beyond food and medicines, Cuba also imports agricultural machinery, chemicals, medical utensils, and industrial equipment from the United States.
Data from the U.S. International Trade Commission indicates that in recent years the island has acquired tractors, car parts, refrigeration equipment, and electrical products, demonstrating that there is no "total blockade" preventing essential purchases.
In fact, the recent rise of private Mipymes has driven an increase in imports of electric motorcycles, appliances, auto parts, and even used vehicles, many of which come from Panama, Mexico, and also the United States.
These goods, purchased outright, are resold on the island at multiplied prices, which proves that the regime does not lack access to markets, but rather transparency and the will to democratize the economy.
A diplomatic and propaganda offensive
The forum convened by the ACNU is part of the annual propaganda cycle that culminates in the vote on the Cuban resolution in the UN General Assembly. Every year, Havana mobilizes its "civil society" organizations—all under state control—to project the image of a nation besieged by an unrelenting enemy.
The chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla insists that the embargo "violates the human rights of the Cuban people" and causes "an immeasurable psychological suffering." However, he overlooks the fact that 80% of Cubans born under socialism were also born into an inefficient economic system characterized by centralized planning and political censorship, which stifles private initiative and perpetuates dependency on the State.
The current crisis—blackouts, inflation, food shortages, massive exodus—has much deeper roots than external sanctions. Its origin lies in the inability of the socialist model to produce, attract investments, or retain talent.
Washington changes its approach
This year, the administration of Donald Trump has decided to break the diplomatic routine that has given Cuba a symbolic victory at the UN since 1992.
An internal cable from the State Department, leaked to Reuters, instructed its embassies to persuade allied countries to abstain or vote against the Cuban resolution, arguing that Havana can no longer present itself as a victim, but rather as an accomplice of Russia in its war against Ukraine.
The document states that "after North Korea, Cuba is the largest contributor of foreign troops to the Russian aggression," with between 1,000 and 5,000 Cubans integrated into Moscow's army units.
This accusation is reinforced by the 2025 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which classified the recruitment of Cubans by Russia as a form of state-sponsored trafficking, a point that the U.S. will use at the UN to highlight the regime's hypocrisy: it presents itself as a victim of the embargo while exporting fighters to the invasion of a sovereign country by a foreign power.
A more complex international landscape
Although the voting in the UN will likely follow the historical pattern —an overwhelming majority in favor of Cuba and only the U.S. and Israel against— diplomats consulted by CiberCuba believe that the margin could narrow.
Several European and Latin American countries, more aligned with Ukraine, may abstain or be absent to avoid appearing as accomplices of a Putin ally.
The U.S. strategy does not aim to reverse the outcome but rather to erode the moral legitimacy of the regime. By dismantling the myths of “total blockade” and exposing Cuba's complicity with Moscow, Washington seeks to shift the international focus: from an alleged “genocidal embargo” to an authoritarian government that thrives on excuses, censorship, and the export of cheap labor and soldiers.
The true blockade
In the halls of MINREX, the "blockade" is once again a sacred word. Every year, with the punctuality of a calendar, the Cuban diplomatic apparatus revives the crusade against the American embargo as if it were a national cause.
And, every year, the regime repeats the same choreography: inflated figures, victimhood speeches, and “civil society” forums where no one dissents.
Havana needs to keep that external enemy alive. Without it, the nakedness of a system that no longer convinces even its own would be exposed. The narrative of the "blockade" serves as the mirror in which power projects its historical justification: if there is hunger, it is the fault of the embargo; if there are blackouts, it is the blockade; if the young person leaves, that too. Everything but their own failure.
But reality imposes itself starkly. While Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez denounces a "genocidal economic war" before the UN, the regime itself purchases food, medicine, agricultural machinery, and industrial equipment from the United States, its supposed enemy.
Because the true blockade—the one that hurts, that suffocates and drives millions of Cubans into exile—is not signed in Washington, but in Havana. It is the blockade of fear, of censorship, of double standards; the blockade of a system that refuses to relinquish power even as the country crumbles around it.
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