UN Votes to Urge US to Lift Cuba Embargo for 33rd Time as Island Ravaged by Hurricane Melissa
"The accumulation of economic suffocation imposed from abroad for generations is equivalent to the destruction caused by war," said Venezuelan UN ambassador Samuel Moncada.
As Cuba was among the Caribbean nations hit by one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution calling on the US government to end its 65-year-old embargo on the country.
The final tally for the resolution was 165 nations voting in favor, with just seven nations opposed. Twelve nations abstained from voting.
This now marks the 33rd consecutive year that the UN General Assembly has voted in favor of a resolution to end the US embargo, which has economically isolated Cuba for decades even as the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union, which had long been used to justify the blockade, ended more than three decades ago.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told the assembly ahead of the vote that the US blockade was "a policy of collective punishment" that "flagrantly, massively, and systematically violates the human rights of Cubans." Nonetheless, Rodriguez vowed that "Cuba will not surrender."
The International Peoples' Assembly, a coalition of 200 trade unions and social justice groups, noted that the vote was taking place as Hurricane Melissa was "worsening the economic, structural, and living conditions of the Cuban people"—suffering that is likely to be compounded by the embargo.
Representatives from several other Latin American nations made the case for ending the US embargo during speeches delivered at the UN on Wednesday.
"The accumulation of economic suffocation imposed from abroad for generations is equivalent to the destruction caused by war," said Venezuelan UN ambassador Samuel Moncada. "Because the blockade is an act of economic war, aimed at subduing an entire population through hunger, disease, and death. This is the truth the US seeks to hide when they call this crime simply a political measure."
Walton Alfonsi Webson, Antigua and Barbuda's ambassador to the UN, described Cuba as a "vital partner" in the region and demanded that the US "remove the embargo and let the Cuban people breathe."
Colombian UN ambassador Leonor Zalabata noted that Cuba has played a crucial role in helping uphold a 2016 peace treaty between the Colombian government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), a Marxist guerrilla organization that agreed to disarm as part of a ceasefire deal that ended decades of violent conflict.
"Cuba has been, and continues to be, a trusted partner in efforts to consolidate peace in Colombia and across the region," she said.
At the UN, Latin American and Caribbean leaders demanded an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba — calling it “an act of economic warfare.” Dozens of nations condemned Washington’s sanctions and urged the U.S. to let Cuba breathe.
Watch what they said.#Cuba #UN #Embargo #LetCubaLive pic.twitter.com/Qr4up0dc4i
— Belly of the Beast (@bellybeastcuba) October 29, 2025
Despite overwhelming support at the UN for lifting the embargo, the resolution's passage will have no real-world impact on US foreign policy since ending the decades-old blockade would require an act of US Congress.
The latest vote to lift the US embargo came as Hurricane Melissa was causing massive devastation in Cuba and countries throughout the Caribbean. According to CNN, the hurricane was a Category 3 storm when it made landfall in Cuba early Wednesday morning, and it forced at least 735,000 Cubans to evacuate their homes.
