Latest editorial
Boys walk in El Cobre, Cuba, in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, October 29, 2025
THE United Nations voted overwhelmingly to condemn the illegal US blockade of Cuba on Wednesday.
At the general assembly 165 countries voted for the blockade to be lifted, with seven votes against and 12 abstentions.
More countries voted against and abstained than in previous years — last year, 187 countries voted to end the blockade and just two, the US and Israel, voted against doing so. The shift has been attributed to aggressive diplomacy by the Donald Trump administration, though the seven votes against came largely from extreme right-wing regimes — Argentina, Hungary, North Macedonia, Paraguay and Ukraine joined Israel and the US.
Washington claimed, without evidence, that Cuba has sent 5,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine. Cuba rejects the accusation as baseless and has even prosecuted citizens accused of mercenary involvement in the war, but it was cited by Poland and the Baltic states in their abstentions.
“The blockade is a policy of collective punishment,” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said. “It flagrantly, massively and systematically violates the human rights of Cubans.”
Where normally only the US and its ally Israel vote to strangle Cuba economically, there have been special efforts to slander and isolate the besieged socialist island nation year — so we must redouble our solidarity, writes TARIQ ANDERSON
