The U.S. State Department launched a direct diplomatic offensive this Wednesday against the annual resolution that Cuba presents to the UN General Assembly, warning that supporting it amounts to endorsing the exploitation of Cuban workers and the privileges of the regime's elite.
Juan Pablo Segura, Under Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, stated on his official account on X that "voting in favor of the Cuban regime's resolution means supporting state-sponsored human trafficking, corruption, and the lavish lifestyles of the dictatorship's elite."
Along with the message, Segura shared an official infographic from the State Department titled "What the Cuban regime doesn't want you to know," specifically designed to counter the Cuban resolution ahead of the vote scheduled for October 27 and 28.
The document articulates three central accusations against Havana.
The first points to the foreign mission system: the regime "keeps up to 95% of the salaries abroad of Cuban workers, especially healthcare professionals, to fund its repressive machinery and security forces."
The second one directly qualifies those exploitation missions: "Cuban workers are essentially subjected to forced labor when they join the brigades controlled by the regime abroad."
The document adds that healthcare professionals are sent abroad with insufficient training to carry out procedures without proper preparation.
The third accusation links the regime to the conflict in Ukraine: "Thousands of Cuban citizens have been sent to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, many of them sent directly by Havana or under conditions of forced labor, acting as saboteurs even within NATO and EU territory."
The message from Segura is set against the backdrop of an intense diplomatic week in New York. On Monday, the U.S. mission to the UN organized the forum “Cuba Libre: The Oppression That Havana Hides”, featuring Ambassador Mike Waltz, opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer, and artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, among others.
That day, Cuban diplomats staged a repudiation act in the halls of the UN against the forum participants, shouting "terrorists," "liars," and "get out of the UN," while they filmed. The permanent representative of Cuba, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, had attempted to prevent the event from taking place, describing it as a "political motivation maneuver."
Ambassador Waltz also denounced the privileges of the Cuban elite, such as the guaranteed electric supply for the Castro family residential complex, a private jet, and a private island with 20 houses and a lagoon with dolphins.
Ukraine, for its part, reported to the United Nations that more than 1,000 Cubans had signed contracts with the Russian Armed Forces between 2023 and 2025, while Amnesty International documented testimonies of Cubans lured by false job offers and sent to the front lines.
The resolution that the Cuban government has presented since 1992 under the title "The Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial, and Financial Embargo Imposed by the United States of America against Cuba" has steadily lost support: it received 187 votes in favor in 2024 and dropped to 165 in 2025, with seven votes against and 12 abstentions.
An international coalition of over 1,000 Cuban democratic organizations urged democratic governments on October 14 to reject or abstain from voting this year.
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