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The United Nations General Assembly approved on Tuesday the commencement of an urgent debate requested by the Cuban regime regarding the U.S. embargo, with 136 votes in favor, nine against, and 30 abstentions.
This is the first time that Cuba has resorted to this extraordinary mechanism, different from the annual vote held every October.
The vote does not lift or modify the embargo: it only authorizes the holding of a debate under Agenda Item 38 of the UN, titled "Need to put an end to the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba."
The nine countries that rejected opening the debate were United States, Argentina, Costa Rica, Israel, Morocco, Czech Republic, North Macedonia, Paraguay, and Ukraine.
Before the voting, the U.S. delegate attempted to halt the process with an intervention that, according to the Cuban delegation, exceeded the procedural nature of the session.
The chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, who led the delegation from the Havana regime, submitted three points of order and accused the Assembly's presidency of failing to bring the Washington representative to order.
"I am surprised that the presidency of the Assembly has not called the delegate from the United States of America to order, who is making a substantive intervention that is in no way procedural," Rodríguez Parrilla stated from the podium in yet another circus-like act.
The diplomatic context leading up to the debate was marked by intense pressure from Washington.
According to a leaked cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and published by The Nation on July 2, the State Department instructed its embassies to pressure governments around the world and prevent the opening of the debate, categorizing countries into three groups with differentiated guidelines.
Despite this pressure, the outcome was favorable for the Cuban regime, although the support of 136 nations is noticeably lower than the 165 votes Cuba received in the annual vote in October 2025, the worst record in over three decades, which reflects the partial effect of the American diplomatic campaign.
The regime seized the outcome to project a narrative of international victimhood.
Miguel Díaz-Canel posted on X that "each vote demonstrates a sense of justice and courage, rising above strong pressures from previous days, and the blatant lies of the U.S. delegate to sabotage it."
What the Cuban leader omitted is that Havana has accumulated more than 30 consecutive favorable votes at the UN without having implemented any structural reforms or improved the human rights situation on the island, where the energy crisis, food shortages, and political repression remain the daily reality for millions of Cubans.
The U.S. claims to have offered 100 million dollars in humanitarian aid to Cuba, the distribution of which, according to Washington, has been hindered by the Cuban authorities themselves by demanding that the funds go through independent channels such as non-governmental organizations and churches.
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