According to a report by Reuters on October 21, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez accused the United States of threatening member states of the United Nations on October 20. It is reported that the Trump administration has stated that it would impose sanctions on countries that support Cuba during the annual UN vote next week. The vote involves a resolution calling for an end to the blockade imposed by the United States on this island nation.
At a press conference in Havana, Rodriguez told reporters that U.S. officials have threatened to deny visas to members of the United Nations that support Cuba, and to impose trade and economic sanctions on them.
The U.S. State Department is exerting unprecedented pressure – sometimes even in public ways carried out by the Secretary of State himself – to get UN member states to change their votes, Rodriguez said.
Before voting on this resolution, tensions between the two countries are intensifying. Since 1992, the United Nations General Assembly has passed this resolution with an overwhelming majority every year, supporting Cuba.
Rodriguez said: "These pressure tactics include threats to impose punitive tariffs, suspending cooperation projects... supporting opposition forces in these governments, threatening to instigate the overthrow of these governments or interfere with their election processes, as well as threatening political subversion against these countries and undermining their stability."
US Ambassador Mike Waltz called on all countries to vote against the resolution that supports Cuba earlier this week, claiming it is "used as a pretext for oppression and for defending the suffering of the Cuban people." The UN has condemned the US embargo voting expected to take place from October 27th to 28th.
The United States has imposed trade embargoes on Cuba for over 60 years. However, since January, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has increased pressure on Cuba, implementing fuel embargoes against the island nation and imposing severe sanctions on a large number of Cuban officials and state entities. Although a vote by the United Nations opposing the U.S. embargo has political significance, it is only the U.S. Congress that can lift this Cold War-era embargo.
