Cuban Embassy Accuses U.S. of Pressuring Governments Over UN Vote on Cuba Embargo

The Cuban Embassy in Antigua and Barbuda has accused the United States of pressuring governments around the world to oppose debate at the United Nations on the decades-old U.S. embargo against Cuba, describing the policy as a violation of international law and a humanitarian crisis.

In a statement published Saturday, the embassy cited a recent article by The Nation newspaper, which it said alleged that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed American embassies to lobby host governments to prevent discussion of the embargo during the upcoming United Nations General Assembly session.

According to the embassy, the reported directive forms part of a broader effort by Washington to silence international criticism of its sanctions policy toward Cuba.

“The United States is attempting to impose a global gag order,” the statement said, alleging that governments are being pressured not to denounce or even discuss the embargo and its impact on the Cuban people.

The embassy argued that the overwhelming majority of countries oppose the embargo, noting that the UN General Assembly has voted for 31 consecutive years to condemn the U.S. policy.

It also claimed that U.S. sanctions have obstructed humanitarian assistance, including food, medicine and other essential supplies, by discouraging shipping companies, insurers and logistics providers from transporting goods to Cuba.

The statement referenced reported delays involving a World Food Programme donation and medical supplies approved by UNICEF, arguing that the sanctions have had severe humanitarian consequences.

The embassy further cited comments by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, saying broad economic sanctions affecting entire sectors of an economy are incompatible with international law and human rights principles.

It rejected any suggestion that Cuba poses a military threat to the United States, arguing instead that the embargo amounts to collective punishment affecting ordinary Cubans’ access to food, medicine, electricity, transportation and other necessities.

The embassy called on the international community to continue opposing the embargo and what it described as efforts to prevent debate on the issue at the United Nations.

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Statement from the Cuban Embassy in Antigua and Barbuda

In recent days, an article published by the American newspaper, The Nation, has circulated widely on social media and in the press. It reveals how the U.S. State Department, under the direction of Secretary Marco Rubio, sent precise instructions to its embassies worldwide to pressure governments to prevent the United Nations General Assembly from debating the inhumane effects of the U.S. government’s policy of total economic strangulation against the Cuban population.

The publication of this document confirms once again what Cuba has denounced in multiple forums: Washington not only maintains a criminal blockade, a total embargo and the most draconian financial sanctions against the largest of the Antilles, but also does everything possible to silence the debate and international condemnation of its devastating humanitarian consequences.

According to the article, Marco Rubio has ordered all U.S. embassies to pressure the governments of host countries to oppose the debate requested by Cuba at the UN General Assembly on July 7 regarding the inhumane consequences of Washington’s aggressive policies on the lives of more than 10 million Cubans. If the debate proceeds, the United States is asking its allies to attack Cuba in their speeches, accusing it of incompetence, corruption, and economic failure, and to avoid blaming the extreme difficulties the country faces as a direct result of the measures adopted by the Trump Administration.

Even more serious: Washington is issuing direct threats to the countries that have traditionally supported Cuba at the United Nations. It demands that they be “extremely careful” in their interventions and warns them that comments favorable to Cuba could generate “friction” in their bilateral relations with the United States, with the “negative consequences” that this would supposedly have for these countries. This means that the United States is attempting to impose a global gag order: it is pressuring governments not to speak out, not to denounce the blockade, not to mention it, and not to acknowledge the suffering that this policy inflicts on the Cuban people. Marco Rubio is now trying to prevent even the issue from being debated, because he knows that the majority of the world rejects this illegal, cruel, and extraterritorial policy, as demonstrated by the fact that the UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly condemned the blockade against Cuba for 31 consecutive years.

Washington’s genocidal policy of economic strangulation against the Cuban people prevents even recognized international institutions of the United Nations system from delivering food, medicine, and other essential goods to the Cuban population. After recently suffering a crushing defeat in its attempt to prevent the World Food Programme (WFP) from approving a donation of 2,900 tons of food for distribution in Cuba, the US government, through an unprecedented campaign of threats and pressure against logistics companies, shipping lines, insurance companies, and others, has obstructed the transport of this food to Cuba. The same has happened with a shipment valued at US$630,000 approved by UNICEF, which includes emergency medical kits, supplies for newborns, and nutritional supplements for pregnant women. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, recently warned that such severe sanctions, directed against entire sectors of an economy and with indiscriminate effects on the population, are incompatible with international law and with human rights treaties and principles.

As Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla recently pointed out, Cuba does not represent any threat to the United States. Cuba is not a military or nuclear power. The real threat is the blockade: a policy of collective punishment that affects food, medicine, fuel, hospitals, transportation, electricity, and the daily lives of millions of Cubans. It is a crime against humanity that is happening right now.

The United States, through blackmail, threats, and pressure of all kinds, seeks to impose a new international order based on the total subjugation of the rest of the world to its hegemonic interests. It will be up to the will of the international community and the dignity of their governments to oppose these designs and prevent crimes against humanity, such as the genocidal blockade against Cuba, from going without the most clear and unequivocal condemnation.

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