UN to Vote Today on Condemning US Embargo on Cuba After Waltz-Rodriguez Shouting Match in General Assembly

The United Nations is set to vote on Wednesday on a resolution condemning the decades-long US economic embargo on Cuba, as the Trump administration intensifies its campaign to undermine Cuba's socialist government, including by threatening military intervention.

The annual exercise aimed at calling out the US government's “maximum pressure policy” has been put before the UN General Assembly for the past 34 years, and each time the resolution has received overwhelming support from the 193 member states. Last year the vote was 165-7, with 12 abstentions. Such resolutions are not legally binding, but they reflect world opinion.

The resolution is still expected to pass by a large margin this year. It is unclear, however, if the Trump administration's overt campaign to influence the vote will result in more opposition or abstentions from key countries, including Western allies, than in previous years.

Cuba is weathering deepening financial crises while the US increases its already punishing economic campaign. On top of this, President Donald Trump last week once again raised the spectre of US military intervention, saying US warships could stop over in Cuba on their way back from the Iran war.

The tensions between Washington and Havana have spilled over into public forums at the United Nations. On Tuesday, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez found themselves in a shouting match on the floor of the General Assembly while debating the embargo resolution.

Shortly after Waltz had begun his criticism of the socialist government, Rodríguez walked down to the podium where the US envoy was addressing the hall and called him a liar while trying to get a “point of order” from the official presiding over the session.

As UN security and personnel tried to intervene, Waltz said, “This individual needs to back away from this podium. He's not going to intimidate me in the United States of America.” He added, “You understand who you're dealing with? This is America. Back up.”

In a post on X, Rodríguez reminded Waltz that he was making his remarks at the UN, not at a national security meeting at the White House. He continued that with its crude lies at the UN General Assembly, the US government has launched another desperate attempt to justify its economic aggression against Cuba and its criminal energy blockade.

A week earlier, a similar interaction between Waltz and his Cuban counterpart, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, took place outside a US-hosted panel with Cuban dissidents and former prisoners that sought to highlight allegations of the oppressive behaviour of the island's government.

The US embargo against Cuba was first imposed in 1960 after Fidel Castro led a revolution that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista and nationalized properties belonging to US citizens and corporations. Trump announced in late January that he would impose tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba. The warning has effectively cut off fuel to the island, leading to widespread power outages that affect basic activities such as cooking, the water supply and internet and telephone services.