Citing Cuban fighters in Ukraine, US urges allies to shun Havana at UN

President Donald Trump’s administration is mobilizing US diplomats to lobby against a UN resolution calling on Washington to lift its decades-long embargo on Cuba, in part by sharing details of Cuba’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters.

As part of the administration’s campaign, US diplomats will tell countries that the Cuban government is actively supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with up to 5,000 Cubans fighting alongside Moscow’s forces.

The October 2-dated unclassified cable sent to dozens of US missions directed American diplomats to urge the governments to oppose the non-binding resolution, which has passed in the UN General Assembly by wide margins year after year since 1992.

Officials at the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

Last year, the General Assembly adopted the resolution with 187 countries voting in favor. The United States and Israel were the only countries that voted against it, while Moldova abstained.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has doubled down on sanctions, returning Cuba to a US list of state sponsors of terrorism, tightening financial and travel restrictions and sanctioning third-country nationals who host Cuban doctors.

Trump has also recently toughened his stance towards Moscow, threatening financial penalties against buyers of Russian oil and allowing US intelligence agencies to share information with Ukraine to help its attacks on energy assets inside Russia.

The cable said that the UN resolution was “incorrectly” blaming the United States for Cuba’s problems which it said were caused by Cuba’s “own corruption and incompetence.” It added that the objective of this push was to demonstrate the administration’s opposition, significantly reducing the number of “yes” votes.

“”No” votes are preferred but abstentions or absent/not voting are also useful,” the cable said, adding that Washington needed “allies and like-minded partners” in this push.

The United States has piled dozens of new sanctions on the Communist-run Caribbean island since a trade embargo was put in place following Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.

The UN vote can carry political weight, but only the US Congress can lift the Cold War-era embargo.

The Cuban government blames US sanctions for the grueling crisis the country is mired in, the worst economic downturn in decades characterized by shortages of basic goods, collapsing infrastructure and runaway inflation.

The State Department said Cuba was using the annual UN resolution as a mechanism to victimize itself and that it did not deserve the support from America’s democratic allies.

“The Trump Administration will not remain on the sidelines or support an illegitimate regime that undermines our national security interests in our region,” a State Department spokesperson said in emailed comments on Saturday.

For years, US tactics to weaken support for the non-binding UN resolution have focused on the legality of the embargo, how the US provided exceptions for food and medicine and highlighted Cuba’s human rights, the cable said.

All of these approaches have failed to influence the vote, it added. The cable provided nearly two dozen talking points, many of which accused Cuba of squandering its limited resources, denying its people basic human rights and being a threat to international peace. —Reuters