Overview
- The General Assembly adopted the annual anti‑embargo resolution on Oct. 28 with 130 votes in favor, 17 against and 25 abstentions, the weakest backing in decades.
- U.S. officials said an intensive lobbying campaign persuaded several countries to abstain or vote against the measure, and Ambassador Mike Waltz called the shift a diplomatic success.
- A public shouting match on the Assembly floor between U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez escalated tensions and led U.S. officials to announce the expulsion of Cuban first secretary Richard Tur de la Concepcion over an alleged assault.
- Cuban leaders blamed recent U.S. measures, including threats of tariffs on countries supplying oil, for severe fuel shortages, widespread power outages and strains on health and food supplies that they describe as a humanitarian emergency.
- The resolution is non‑binding and cannot lift the embargo; only the U.S. Congress can change U.S. law, so the vote carries diplomatic weight but no immediate legal effect and may deepen bilateral and multilateral friction.