(UN Photo / Loey Felipe) The General Assembly adopts a resolution on the “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.” on Oct. 29, 2025. The resolution was adopted by recorded vote with 165 in favor; 7 against and 12 abstention.
By Gary Raynaldo – DIPLOMATIC TIMES
The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favor of a resolution calling for the end of the decades old US embargo on Cuba. A total of 165 countries of 193 voted in favor of the measure with seven against, and twelve abstentions. Last year, the resolution passed by 187 votes with two against (US and Israel) and just one abstention (Moldova). This year, the US, Israel, Argentina, Hungary, Paraguay, North Macedonia, and Ukraine cast no votes. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Czechia, Ecuador, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Poland, Moldova and Romania were the nations that abstained from voting. For the first time, Ukraine voted against the annual resolution. Ukraine’s no vote was a stark departure from previous years when the country either voted in favor of the resolution or abstained. Many attributed Kyiv’s no vote to U.S. allegations that some 5,000 Cubans are fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. Cuba staunchly denies the U.S. claims.
Since 1962, the US has imposed a crippling economic embargo on Cuba. With overwhelming backing from the international community, the resolution has been approved ever since 1992 when the General Assembly began to vote annually on the issue. The embargo is rooted in the Cold War, when Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries seized power. The General Assembly does not have the power to end the embargo, only the U.S. Congress does.
Cuba Foreign Minister Condemns US Embargo As ‘Act of Genocide’
Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba, speaks at UN General Assembly meeting on the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba Oct. 29, 2025. (UN Photo / Loey Felipe)
Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez denounced the U.S. blockade as an “act of genocide and collective punishment, which flagrantly, massively and systematically violates the human rights of Cubans.” He said the blockade produces “incalculable suffering” in Cuban families. The Cuban foreign minister asserted that between March 2024 and February 2025 the blockade caused $7.5 billion in damages.
U.S. Praises Increase In No Votes To End Blockade
The U.S. praised the increase in no votes this year. “The United States government is satisfied see so many countries send the regime a message that the international community will no longer tolerate its lies…its support for rogue states and international terrorists, and most of all, its repression of the Cuban people,” Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the UN Jeff Bartos said.
