The permanent representative of Cuba to the UN, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, spoke to the press on Thursday at the United Nations headquarters in New York to denounce the pressures from Washington ahead of the annual General Assembly vote on the U.S. embargo against Cuba, scheduled for October 27 and 28.
"Cuba will not be intimidated, blackmailed, or silenced," warned the diplomat, in what was one of the most direct statements from the Cuban regime at the multilateral organization in recent weeks.
The central focus of the complaint was the event held this Monday, October 19, organized by the Permanent Mission of the U.S. at the UN headquarters titled "Cuba Libre: The Oppression That Havana Hides," which will address the situation of political prisoners, the alleged trafficking of Cuban medical professionals, and the regime's corruption.
Soberón described the event as a "political motivation maneuver, organized in a questionable manner, whose clear purpose is to attack Cuba, promote a hostile narrative against our country, and use the facilities of the United Nations to further the political agenda of the United States government against a sovereign member state."
The Cuban ambassador argued that the event violates the UN administrative instruction ST/AI/2019/4, which requires that activities held in its facilities be consistent with the purposes of the organization's Charter. "The United Nations is not a platform for political persecution, interference in the internal affairs of states, or campaigns aimed at undermining their sovereignty," he emphasized.
Soberón also accused Secretary of State Marco Rubio of directly contacting heads of state and government to pressure them to change their votes on the Cuban resolution, describing this effort as an "unacceptable campaign of harassment and political intimidation." The State Department confirmed that Rubio called Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on October 13 to urge him to align with Washington on "shared priorities" at the UN, including the Cuban issue.
The Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla accused Rubio of "pressuring and blackmailing" world leaders last Tuesday, while the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel stated on social media on Wednesday that the "frantic display" by the U.S. regarding international leaders was "the best evidence of how alone and isolated they are in their policy against Cuba."
The U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, responded on Saturday on X that the event invited former political prisoners and experts in forced labor and corruption, and defended Rubio's approach to Cuba as "perfectly healthy." Waltz also alluded to the fact that the regime itself had pursued Rubio's family.
The Under Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Juan Pablo Segura, warned that supporting the Cuban resolution "delays the urgent need for political and economic reforms" on the island, arguing that Havana uses the annual vote "to convince itself that it does not need to change."
International support for the resolution has steadily declined: it received 187 votes in favor in 2024, fell to 165 in October 2025 —the lowest level in over a decade— and barely reached 136 votes in the extraordinary session of July 2026.
More than 554 activists and Cuban organizations —including José Daniel Ferrer, Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, and Jorge Luis García Pérez «Antúnez»— published a letter urging democratic governments to vote against or abstain on October 28, arguing that supporting the resolution benefits the regime and not the Cuban people. The initiative has garnered over 1,000 total endorsements.
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