United Nations: The United States and Cuba clashed at the United Nations as the Trump administration sought once again to build opposition for an upcoming annual vote condemning Washington's decades-long economic embargo against Havana.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz on Monday hosted a ‘Cuba Libre' panel with dissidents and former prisoners in an effort to highlight what he called the oppressive behaviour of the island's government.
The event included explicit footage of what appeared to be Cuban citizens being detained and panellists describing being tortured and persecuted for years for speaking out against the government. Havana has long denied holding political prisoners, but activist groups have registered thousands imprisoned for political reasons.
“This is the oppression that Havana wants to hide,” Waltz said during the event at the UN headquarters, while urging countries to look past “70 years of propaganda” and vote against the resolution next week.
A few feet away, Cuban Ambassador to the UN Ernesto Soberón Guzmán gathered diplomats and allies from around the world to protest what he called a sham event against Cuba.
“This charade is an attempt to deviate attention from a simple fact: The US is acting as an international delinquent, enforcing collective punishment on the people of Cuba,” Guzmán said.
It is the second year in a row that the Trump administration has waged a campaign to influence the UN resolution aimed at calling out the US government's “maximum pressure policy” against Cuba.
The US efforts are part of a larger plan to force changes to Cuba's political system by cutting off fuel to the island, leading to massive power outages that affect basic activities such as cooking, water supply, and internet and telephone services.
The annual vote condemning the US economic embargo has been put before the UN General Assembly for the past 34 years and each time receives overwhelming support from the world body's 193 member states. Last year, the vote was 165-7, with 12 abstentions. Argentina, Ukraine and Hungary opposed the measure for the first time. While such resolutions are not legally binding, they do reflect world opinion.
The US embargo against Cuba was first imposed in 1960 after Fidel Castro led a revolution that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista and nationalised properties belonging to US citizens and corporations.
In 2015, then Cuban president Raúl Castro and US president Barack Obama officially restored relations. The following year, the US abstained, for the first time, on the General Assembly resolution calling for an end to the embargo.
Cuba, meanwhile, has struggled since 2020 with an economic and energy crisis. Its gross domestic product has shrunk, and its 10 million residents have endured blackouts, food shortages, and inflation. There have been waves of protests, and hundreds of thousands of Cubans have migrated, many to the United States.
Speaking at a US-organized event at UN headquarters, US Ambassador Mike Waltz urged delegations to vote against the resolution, abstain or walk away.
“Do not let them abuse your vote for their oppression,” he said.
Waltz accused Cuba of exploiting medical workers overseas and taking the wages of Cubans fighting for Russia in Ukraine. He presented no supporting evidence for the fighter-pay allegation during his remarks.
Cuban dissidents Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and Jose Daniel Ferrer described imprisonment and repression. Ferrer said he had spent more than 12 years in prison, including more than nine in solitary confinement.
The General Assembly is expected to vote on October 28, following debate beginning the previous day.(With inputs from Reuters and PTI)