UN condemns US embargo on Cuba a day after envoys' shouting match
The UN General Assembly again voted on Wednesday to condemn the US economic embargo on Cuba, a day after an angry exchange between the two countries' diplomats briefly halted the debate.
The United Nations General Assembly voted on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, to condemn the US economic embargo on Cuba for another year, a day after an angry exchange between American and Cuban diplomats forced a pause in the debate.
Seventeen countries voted against the non-binding resolution, according to Al Jazeera and Hindustan Times, and more countries abstained than in earlier years after a US campaign to draw support away from it. Al Jazeera put the result at 130 in favour and 25 abstentions. Last year the resolution passed 165 to 7, with 12 abstentions, Hindustan Times reported. Cuba has brought the resolution every year since 1992, according to The Hindu.
The clash on Tuesday
The row broke out on Tuesday, October 27, while the US Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, was speaking. Onlinekhabar reported that Waltz accused Cuba's government of repression and corruption and displayed pictures of Rolex watches, and that the Cuban delegation tried to stop his speech. Al Jazeera described the two sides yelling at each other in what appeared to be a shoving match. Hindustan Times reported Waltz telling the Cuban side: "You understand who you're dealing with? This is America. Back up."
General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman suspended the session for a time to restore order, according to Onlinekhabar and The Hindu.
On Wednesday, Waltz said a first secretary at Cuba's UN mission would be expelled from the US for "assaulting an American diplomat", Al Jazeera reported; Hindustan Times also reported the US move to expel him. Al Jazeera said neither mission had answered its request for comment.
Blockade or embargo
The two governments describe the policy differently. Cuba calls it an illegal and inhumane blockade that has crippled its economy and health care, Onlinekhabar reported. Waltz rejected the idea of a total blockade, saying the US had exported nearly $876 million in goods to Cuba in 2026, and blamed the island's troubles on government corruption.
Hindustan Times reported that the island has faced fuel shortages and widespread power cuts since President Donald Trump said in late January that he would impose tariffs on any country selling or supplying oil to Cuba.
After the vote, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla wrote on social media that the US was "once again isolated in its attempt to continue strangling the Cuban people", according to Al Jazeera. Waltz told reporters he was satisfied that so many countries, "including major economies like Korea, like Germany and others", had shifted their position.