Miguel Díaz-Canel admitted this Thursday, at the conclusion of the third episode of his radio program on Radio Rebelde, that several countries will withdraw their historic support for Cuba in the upcoming UN vote on October 28 regarding the U.S. embargo, attributing it to pressure from Washington.
“We know that there are people who will change their vote because they are intimidated by the pressures from the United States,” said the Cuban leader at the end of the Criterio Compartido segment, hosted alongside journalist Bárbara Betancourt from the studios of Radio Rebelde.
What the program did not show was that that response had been prepared in advance. When Betancourt brought up the topic of the UN —pointing out that he "did not want to overlook" the upcoming vote— Díaz-Canel responded by reading almost entirely from notes, in an exchange that, like the rest of the segment, was scripted in advance.
In his speech, the leader described Washington's diplomatic campaign as "the most intense diplomatic and communication offensive like never before" and accused Secretary of State Marco Rubio of leading direct pressures and blackmail against heads of state to alter their positions.
The immediate trigger was the forum "Cuba Libre: The Oppression That Havana Hides," organized by the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, on October 19 and 20 at the very headquarters of the organization. Cuban political prisoners such as José Daniel Ferrer and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara attended the event, along with American researchers and lawmakers.
Díaz-Canel described the meeting as a "clandestine gathering with a panel funded by the State Department, composed of convicted criminals or individuals with ties to terrorist organizations." He specifically pointed out Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat —whom Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla accuses of being a terrorist and a fraudster— as one of the panelists. Gutiérrez Boronat denied those accusations this very Thursday.
During the forum, Cuban diplomats confronted the activists in what was described as an act of repudiation within the United Nations premises.
The leader also acknowledged that some countries might choose to abstain or leave the room to avoid making a commitment, describing that tactic with a revealing expression: "to vote with God and with the devil."
The statements come at a time of sustained decline for the Cuban regime in that multilateral forum. In October 2025, the resolution received only 165 votes in favor —compared to 187 in 2024—, with 7 votes against and 12 abstentions, the lowest result since 2010.
For this edition, American pressure has intensified on several fronts. Rubio directly contacted the Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele to ask him to align with Washington. Germany, which has supported the Cuban resolution uninterruptedly since 2002, is considering changing its position for the first time in 24 years.
The highest historical support for the resolution was 191 votes in 2016, during the rapprochement between Barack Obama and the Cuban regime, with no votes against. Since then, support has continued to decline, and the vote on October 28 could mark a new low.
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