Cuba accuses US of pressuring other nations ahead of UN vote on the blockade
News from Cuba | Thursday, 23 October 2025
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla has accused the United States of exerting “gross pressure” on other countries to dissuade them from voting against the US economic blockade of Cuba at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly.
Rodríguez said Washington is running a “campaign of misinformation and intimidation,” claiming the State Department has instructed its diplomats to lobby governments—particularly in Europe and Latin America—not to support Cuba’s annual resolution condemning the blockade citing Cuba’s alleged support for Russia’s war in Ukraine as justification. He said US officials have even sent letters to foreign governments containing “threats and falsehoods” about Cuba.
According to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters, US diplomats will tell countries that there are 5,000 Cuban troops in Ukraine.
It has been reported before that there are Cubans fighting in the war, several who have lost their lives or been captured. The Cuban government says that they are mercenaries who have been recruited and manipulated to join the war with the promise of jobs, money and passports in Russia.
In a statement earlier this month, Cuba's Foreign Minstry said that any Cuban involved in either side of the conflict was doing it on their own initiative without “the encouragement, commitment, or consent of the Cuban State,” which “maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward mercenarism, human trafficking, and the participation of its nationals in any armed confrontation in another country—all of which constitute serious crimes subject to severe penalties under national law.” It also gave details of nine criminal cases involving 40 defendants for crimes related to this between 2023 to 2025, resulting in 26 convictions so far.
“The United States Government has not provided and will not be able to offer a single piece of evidence to support its baseless and mendacious accusations in this new defamatory campaign against Cuba,” it concluded.
Cuba’s resolution calling for an end to the blockade is expected to be voted on at the UN next week, where it has historically received overwhelming international support.
Last year the vote was 187 - 2 with the US and Israel voting against.
