UN Vote Condemns Cuba Embargo Amid Diplomatic Tensions

The Al Jazeera Newsfeed item reports a heated confrontation at United Nations headquarters in New York between US envoy Mike Waltz and Cuba’s UN team. During the exchange, Waltz repeatedly told the Cuban diplomats, “This is America.” The clash took place in connection with a vote on the US trade embargo on Cuba, though the brief report does not specify the vote’s outcome, provide the diplomats’ response, or describe the full exchange. It also does not explain what Waltz meant by the remark or give further details about the circumstances that led to the confrontation. The report places the incident against the backdrop of US pressure on Cuba, stating that since January the United States has also imposed a fuel blockade on the island nation. It does not elaborate on the blockade, its effects, or the rationale for it. The item’s central focus is therefore the verbal clash and its setting: a UN vote concerning the embargo, amid broader tensions over US policy toward Cuba. Published on October 28, 2026, the short video-news item presents the episode as a concise account rather than a detailed analysis. The available text offers no additional perspectives or commentary, so the significance of the encounter beyond its connection to the vote and the wider US-Cuba dispute is not developed.

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for a resolution calling for an end to the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, though support was notably lower than in the previous year. The resolution received 130 votes in favour, including Canada, while 17 countries—including the United States and Israel—voted against and 25 abstained. Germany and Italy were among several Western countries abstaining after years of supporting the resolution. The annual vote has been held for more than three decades, but it is non-binding; only the U.S. Congress can lift the embargo. The change in the vote followed a U.S. lobbying effort. U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz described the shift by several countries as a diplomatic success and said he expected it to continue. Debate at the UN was heated, with shouting between U.S. and Cuban officials before and during the vote. Waltz accused a Cuban diplomat of assaulting an American diplomat and said the Cuban official would be expelled from the United States. Cuba, in turn, complained to UN Secretary-General António Guterres about an American diplomat involved in the incident. The article places the vote amid worsening hardship in Cuba. The United States has maintained its trade embargo for more than 60 years, and President Donald Trump’s administration has increased pressure on the island. Fuel imports have fallen sharply, while prolonged blackouts and shortages of fuel, food and water have pushed Cuba toward a humanitarian crisis. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla condemned the U.S. policy as collective punishment. A Havana resident said the vote matters because it draws attention to the embargo’s effects on ordinary Cubans. The United States has voted against the resolutions since 1992, with a brief abstention in 2016 during a period of closer U.S.-Cuba relations.

The UN General Assembly once again passed a resolution calling for an end to the US economic, trade and financial embargo on Cuba, but support fell to its lowest level in more than three decades. The resolution received 130 votes in favour, 17 against and 25 abstentions, its weakest result since 1995. More than 160 countries supported it last year. Germany, Italy and Latvia abstained for the first time in 34 years, while Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Morocco, Slovenia and Bosnia voted against, in several cases for the first time. The resolution is not legally binding, but is treated as an expression of international opinion. The vote took place amid heightened tensions between Washington and Havana. The embargo dates to 1960, following Fidel Castro’s revolution and the nationalisation of US-owned property. The article describes a renewed US pressure campaign, including restrictions on oil supplies and broad sanctions that have worsened Cuba’s economic difficulties. In January, President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba, contributing to reduced fuel deliveries, power cuts and disruptions to water, internet and telephone services. Before the vote, US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz rejected the description of Cuba as being under blockade and blamed the country’s government for its people’s hardship. Cuban officials, meanwhile, accused Washington of pressuring countries to change their votes. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the US of trying to determine Cuba’s future and seize its wealth. Rodríguez and Waltz had a heated exchange at the UN, while Waltz also criticised Cuban leaders’ lifestyles. President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned what he called US “gangster-like coercion,” while saying the vote showed international opposition to the embargo despite pressure. The article presents the vote as a significant diplomatic setback for Cuba’s longstanding effort to build near-universal opposition to the US embargo, while documenting the continued dispute over responsibility for the island’s worsening conditions.