The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, celebrated this Wednesday the historic outcome of the annual vote on the embargo against Cuba as an unmistakable sign that the international community is beginning to turn its back on Havana, while the Cuban delegation led by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla applauded the result and the U.S. delegation left the room in clear disagreement.
The A/81/L.5 resolution against the embargo on Cuba was approved with 130 votes in favor, 17 against, and 25 abstentions, the worst result in the history of this initiative since Cuba first presented it in 1992.
Waltz posted on X that "nearly three times as many nations voted against, abstained, or simply did not vote, turning their backs on the fraudulent resolution from Havana at the UN," and added, "There is still work to be done, but the world is beginning to resist the propaganda of the Cuban regime as its corruption and oppression are being exposed."
The decline is dramatic when compared to recent years: in 2024, the resolution received 187 votes in favor and only two against; in 2025, it dropped to 165 in favor and seven against; this year, it plummeted to 130 in favor and 17 against, representing a loss of 57 supports and more than an eightfold increase in opposing votes in just two years.
Among the 12 countries that changed their stance regarding 2025 to vote against are Austria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Barbados, Guatemala, Lithuania, Morocco, Slovenia, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Among the 25 that abstained is Germany, which had supported the resolution continuously since 2002, along with Chile, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Honduras, and Greece, among others.
Despite the historic collapse of support, the Cuban Foreign Ministry celebrated the outcome on social media with a graphic that proclaimed "Victory for Cuba" and the slogan "Cuba is not a threat, the blockade is."
The result came a day after a high-tension session at the General Assembly, when Rodríguez Parrilla physically advanced towards the podium where Waltz was speaking, forcing the session president, Khalilur Rahman, to briefly suspend the proceedings and demand that the Cuban foreign minister return to his seat.
During that intervention, Waltz presented photographs of Fidel Castro's Rolex watches valued at $40,000 —equivalent to 55 years of the average salary in Cuba—, Hermès ties and Montblanc pens belonging to Díaz-Canel, as well as images of the private island Cayo Piedra, featuring a floating restaurant and a dolphin lagoon, and a 50-meter yacht owned by the Castro family.
Meanwhile, a member of the Cuban delegation, Richard Tur de la Concepción, the first secretary of the permanent mission to the UN, attempted to take the phone from Waltz's spokesperson, J.P. Freire, while he was recording the confrontation.
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed the documents to expel the Cuban diplomat, and Waltz announced that he would be on a plane to Havana in less than 24 hours, warning: "If you lay a hand on an American here in the United States, President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and I will not tolerate it. There will be consequences."
In an interview on Fox News, Waltz described the regime's behavior at the UN: "Sadly, the only equality in communism is that everyone is equally poor. But the regime comes to the United Nations year after year to use this forum as a propaganda platform to present itself as a victim."
The ambassador also referenced research from the Miami Herald indicating that the Cuban military conglomerate GAESA amassed 18 billion dollars in profits and 14 billion in cash in secret accounts, and denounced the existence of 800 political prisoners on the island.
"In one way or another, the Cuban people will see freedom, and I believe they will see it during President Trump's term," Waltz concluded.
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