Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez has denounced that the United States government is exerting pressure on several countries with the aim of reducing international support for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution demanding an end to the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed on the island for more than 60 years, whose accumulated damages exceed $170.677 billion and in the last year caused damages of $7.556 billion.
“The State Department, following the corrupt agenda of its Secretary Marco Rubio, lobbies with lies and pressures allies to undermine support for the UNGA resolution against the blockade,” Bruno Rodríguez wrote on social media.
The Cuban foreign minister noted that Washington is trying to “deceive the international community and hide the serious damage” that the economic blockade has caused to Cuban families for more than six decades, especially after the tightening of measures under the Helms-Burton Act.
According to US media, a State Department cable dated October 2 was sent to dozens of US embassies. The document instructed its diplomats to urge local governments to oppose the draft resolution that Cuba will present later this month at the UN General Assembly.
An international media outlet revealed that Washington’s main argument is that Cuba “actively” supports Russia in the special military operation deployed by Moscow in Ukraine.
Since 1992, the General Assembly annually approves—with an overwhelming majority of votes in favor—a resolution demanding the immediate lifting of the blockade. In the last vote, in 2024, 187 countries supported the Cuban motion, while the United States and Israel voted against it, and Ukraine abstained.
The new vote is scheduled for the end of October, amid an international scenario marked by heightened geopolitical tensions and US pressure on its allies in Latin America and Europe to modify their traditional stance alongside Cuba for peace and opposition to the use of force.
In February 2022, following the deployment of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, Cuba publicly stated its unequivocal position regarding the conflict. On that date, it reaffirmed that “it is a country that defends international law and is committed to the Charter of the United Nations, that it will always defend peace and oppose the use or threat of force against any State.”
At the same time, it advocated for a solution to the conflict that guarantees the sovereignty and security of all and lamented the loss of civilian lives.
He also stated that “it is not possible to rigorously and honestly examine the current situation in Ukraine without carefully assessing the just demands of the Russian Federation to the United States and NATO,” a war-mongering alliance that has expanded eastward, delivered modern weapons to Ukraine, and created a “progressive military encirclement” around Russia’s borders.
“History will hold the United States government accountable for the consequences of an increasingly offensive military doctrine outside NATO’s borders, which threatens international peace, security, and stability,” the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s statement emphasized.
[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA ]
