The United States Mission to the UN criticized the debate held in the General Assembly on the embargo against Cuba this Tuesday, describing it as a waste of resources that does not benefit the Cuban people in any way.
The U.S. Embassy in Cuba amplified the message in Spanish, noting that "at a cost of $28,000 per hour, the $84,000 spent on this repetitive and useless session could have fed 3,500 Cuban children for a month."
The session was convened by the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla under an extraordinary urgency mechanism—different from the annual vote in October—and was approved with 136 votes in favor, nine against, and thirty abstentions.
Among the nine countries that voted against are the United States, Argentina, Costa Rica, Israel, Morocco, the Czech Republic, North Macedonia, Paraguay, and Ukraine.
The result represents a significant setback for Havana: in the annual vote of October 2025, Cuba had received 165 votes in favor, already considered the worst record in over three decades.
The U.S. delegation did not limit itself to questioning the cost of the session. Ambassador Mike Waltz displayed photographs of more than 800 Cuban political prisoners before the Assembly and named figures such as Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, whose five-year sentence ends on July 9, as well as Fernando Almadévez Rivera, Miguel Castillo Pérez, Duanes León Tovero — sentenced to 14 years — and the brothers Jorge and Nadir Martín Perdomo.
"No are violent, they don't have weapons; what they carry are flowers and they write poetry and songs," Waltz said regarding political prisoners, according to the official statement from the U.S. Mission to the UN.
Waltz also firmly rejected the regime's narrative about the embargo, stating that "the only embargo is the guillotine that the regime holds over the heads of its own citizens" and reminding that the U.S. exported 585 million dollars in food and humanitarian goods to Cuba in 2024.
Chancellor Rodríguez attempted to interrupt Waltz on two occasions with points of order, but the Assembly presidency rejected both objections, allowing the American diplomat to continue without interruptions.
The U.S. Embassy in Cuba concluded its message with a direct criticism of the multilateral organization: “The UN should refocus on its core mission instead of financing the propaganda machinery of a regime.”
The message tagged @AmbUNReform, referring to the UN reform agenda promoted by the Trump administration, which has systematically questioned the organization's spending and effectiveness.
As a background, according to a report by The Nation published on July 2, a leaked diplomatic cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on July 1 instructed U.S. embassies worldwide to block the opening of the debate, classifying countries into three categories with differentiated guidelines based on their affinity with Cuba.
Despite that diplomatic pressure, the debate was approved, although with a support level significantly lower than what Cuba used to receive in previous years.
The next annual vote on the embargo is scheduled for October 27, 2026, when it will be assessed whether the regime's diplomatic strain continues to deepen.
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