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The Cuban regime presented this Tuesday as a "victory" the approval in the UN General Assembly of an extraordinary debate on the U.S. embargo, but avoided mentioning one of the most significant aspects of the vote: 30 countries abstained, more than double the number in the last vote on the issue held in October 2025.
Both Miguel Díaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla shared the results on their social media, highlighting only the 136 votes in favor and the nine against, without mentioning the high number of abstentions.
Rodríguez Parrilla even published an infographic with the message "Victory for Cuba" and the prominent "136 in favor," while Díaz-Canel expressed gratitude for international support and asserted that each vote represented an act of "justice and courage" in the face of the "brazen lies" of the United States representative.
The voting concluded with 136 votes in favor, nine against, and 30 abstentions.
Although the debate was approved, the support received by Havana was lower than that recorded in the annual resolution on the embargo approved in October 2025, when Cuba garnered 165 favorable votes, seven against, and 12 abstentions.
The increase in abstentions—from 12 to 30—reflects a decreased willingness among many countries to unconditionally support the position of the Cuban regime at the United Nations.
It is also important to remember that the vote this Tuesday does not modify or lift the U.S. embargo. It merely authorizes the holding of an extraordinary debate under item 38 of the General Assembly agenda, a mechanism that Cuba has sought for the first time and which is different from the annual resolution presented since 1992.
Nine countries voted against
The countries that rejected the opening of the debate were the United States, Argentina, Costa Rica, Israel, Morocco, the Czech Republic, North Macedonia, Paraguay, and Ukraine.
During the session, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, stated that the real embargo that Cubans suffer is imposed by their own government and denounced the existence of political prisoners, nationwide blackouts, and the economic control exerted by the military conglomerate GAESA.
The chancellor Bruno Rodríguez attempted to interrupt the U.S. diplomat's speech twice with points of order, but both were rejected by the Assembly's presidency.
A more adverse international context
The session took place in a less favorable international setting for Havana than in previous years.
In recent months, several Western governments have intensified their criticism of the regime due to its closeness to Russia, its vote at the United Nations regarding the war in Ukraine, and allegations about the recruitment of Cuban citizens to fight alongside the Russian army.
A few days before the debate, the magazine The Nation revealed a diplomatic cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in which Washington instructed its embassies to persuade other governments to not support the initiative presented by Cuba.
Although the regime managed to get the Assembly to approve the debate, the voting revealed a more fragmented international support than in recent years, a circumstance that the Cuban authorities omitted in their official celebrations.
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