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| Volume 55 Number 25, October 25, 2025 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parilla
speaking at a solidarity meeting in New York
On Wednesday, October 29, the United Nations General Assembly is due to vote on the resolution titled "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba". There is an overwhelming demand globally to end the US blockade.
Cuba has presented the non-binding resolution to the UNGA every year since 1992 (except 2020) and each year the resolution has passed, in recent years almost unanimously, signifying the resolute international opposition to the US blockade. The context for this year's vote is the Trump administration's imposition of new sanctions, tightening financial and travel restrictions and sanctioning third-country nationals who host Cuban doctors and once again putting Cuba on the US list of "State Sponsors of Terrorism".
By imposing ever greater hardship on the people of Cuba who have survived six decades of economic sanctions, political threats and efforts to undermine and isolate Cuba, the Trump administration is trying might and main to achieve regime change. These efforts are aimed at crushing the Cuban Revolution and re-establishing US domination over the Cuban nation which, in word and deed, defends the revolution which ended foreign control. The Cuban people stand second to none in the world in support for all those struggling against foreign occupation, domination and for peace and independence. It is this principled stand which the Trump administration is attacking with its current campaign of defamation and slander against Cuba. Cuba presents the motion each year as part of its defiance and defence of its independence.
A report presented to the UN by Cuba ahead of the 33rd vote sets out the wide-ranging devastation caused by the US blockade. The 55-page document states that the cost of the US blockade to the Cuban economy has increased by a crippling 49 per cent on the previous twelve months.
Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parilla, presenting the findings at a press conference on September 16, stated that the blockade remains "the main obstacle to the recovery of the Cuban economy". He emphasised that structural barriers imposed by this policy and its legal framework are the primary obstacle to any economic activity in the country, both state-run and non-state-run. "If there hadn't been the tightening of the blockade and the extraordinarily oppressive effect it has on our families, which translates into economic damage... GDP would have grown 9.2 per cent last year," he said. Total damages to the Cuban economy for the period the report covers (March 2024 to February 2025) amount to $7.6 billion, an increase of 49 per cent compared to last year. The cumulative total since 1962 is $170.7 billion.
On September 26, Bruno Rodríguez Parilla, spoke during the General Debate at the General Assembly. He began by reiterating Cuba's solidarity with the Palestinian people and demanding that the UN take action to end the genocide against the Palestinians. He denounced the Trump administration's unprovoked military aggression against Venezuela and reaffirmed Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace. Rodríguez Parilla forcefully presented Cuba's case and the demand that the US end its criminal blockade against Cuba and remove it from the US list of "State Sponsors of Terrorism".
The Cuban Foreign Minister stated: "In addition to the challenges Cuba faces, stemming from its condition as a small island developing State, our country is suffering the devastating and cumulative impact of the policy of hostility and economic suffocation imposed by the United States for more than six decades. The blockade against Cuba persists and has been tightened to the extremes. It is an overwhelming and prolonged economic war aimed at depriving Cubans of their livelihoods and sustainability, of their existence as a fraternal and joyful people. Anyone claiming otherwise would be lying [...] This aggression has escalated to unprecedented levels in the last eight years and has included increasingly elaborate, surgical and extraterritorial actions of persecution and economic pressure against third parties. It imposes multiple and extraordinary impediments on production, trade and finances as well as the services and policies that guarantee social justice and life itself."
The Foreign Minister also denounced the Trump Administration for its newly added sanctions against Cuba and for putting Cuba back on the US spurious list of "State Sponsors of Terrorism". He noted in his speech: "Cuba is a victim of terrorism. For years and still today, terrorist acts against the country have been organised and financed from the United States territory. Well-known perpetrators of horrendous acts of aggression against the Cuban people - resulting in thousands of deaths, maiming and significant material damage - live there peacefully and with absolute impunity. In compliance with its responsibilities against terrorism and in support of UN efforts against this scourge, the Cuban government has officially shared with the United States government in recent years the names and information about 62 individuals and 20 organisations based in that country which have been responsible for violent and terrorist acts which, from the US territory, continue to participate in actio ns of this nature against Cuba. No response has been received, and no one knows whether the US authorities have taken any action against any of them. It is cynical that the United States government labels Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism following political and economic coercion purposes. This is a slander that neither this Organisation nor any of its Member States share."
More than 40 countries spoke in defence of Cuba at the high-level session of the General Assembly on September 29, calling for the end of the US blockade against Cuba and its unjust designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. As the repeated votes show, it is the US and Israel that are isolated and it is Cuba which is much loved and defended by the world's peoples. The blockade must be ended!