Helfen statt Blockieren

Knowledge, Background

Putting the UN vote in context

· Helfen statt Blockieren editorial team

On 28 October 2026 the United Nations General Assembly adopted, for the 34th time since 1992, a resolution calling for an end to the US embargo against Cuba12. This page presents the figures, compares them with previous years and shows how differently it was reported. It does not judge.

130states voted in favour
17states voted against
25states abstained
21member states cast no vote (193 minus 172)

Was it more than 170 states?

No, not in 2026. There were more than 170 yes votes every year from 2002 to 2024, most recently 187. In 2025 there were 165, in 2026 there are 130. In total 172 states cast a vote in 2026; of these, 130 voted in favour13. 130 is the lowest number since 1995 (117).

The figures since 1992

In 1992, 59 states voted in favour and 71 abstained. The peak of 191 came in 2015 and 2017; in 2016 the US abstained for the first time1. Compared with 2025, support fell by 35 votes, no votes rose from 7 to 17 and abstentions from 12 to 2514.

Votes on the Cuba resolution, 1992 to 2026

Number of states per year. There was no vote in 2020 because of the pandemic.

YearYesNoAbstention
199259371
199388457
1994101248
1995117338
1996138325
1997143317
1998157212
199915528
200016734
200116733
200217334
200317932
200417941
200518241
200618341
200718441
200818532
200918732
201018723
201118623
201218832
201318823
201418823
201519120
201619102
201719120
201818920
201918732
2020no voteno voteno vote
202118423
202218522
202318721
202418721
2025165712
20261301725

Sources: 2024 to 2026 United Nations (UN Geneva, UN News); 1992 to 2023 table on Wikipedia, primary check per year pending, see daten/un_abstimmung_reihe.csv.

No votes 2026

  • Argentina
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina new
  • Colombia new
  • Costa Rica new
  • Czechia new
  • Ecuador new
  • Hungary
  • Israel
  • Lithuania new
  • Morocco new
  • North Macedonia
  • Paraguay
  • Slovenia new
  • Trinidad and Tobago new
  • Ukraine
  • United Arab Emirates new
  • United States

Abstentions 2026

  • Albania
  • Bahrain new
  • Bulgaria new
  • Chile new
  • Croatia new
  • Dominican Republic new
  • Estonia
  • Germany new
  • Greece new
  • Guyana new
  • Haiti new
  • Honduras new
  • Italy new
  • Jamaica new
  • Latvia
  • Montenegro new
  • Netherlands new
  • Palau new
  • Peru new
  • Poland
  • Qatar new
  • Republic of Korea new
  • Republic of Moldova
  • Romania
  • Solomon Islands new

“new” means: not in this group in 2025. 5 4

The EU member states

Of the 27 member states, four voted against in 2026 and ten abstained; the remaining 13 appear in neither list5. In 2024 all member states had voted in favour6; in 2025 Hungary voted against and six abstained4.

against (4)Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovenia
abstention (10)Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Romania
in neither list (13)Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden

What those involved say

Before the vote the US lobbied for no votes and abstentions; Reuters reports that several countries therefore opposed or abstained for the first time in years7. Ambassador Mike Waltz said in the debate: “There is no blockade.”1

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said: “What Cuba demands is to be left in peace” (English rendering by UN News)1. President Miguel Díaz-Canel thanked the states that voted in favour8.

In 2025 Poland, also for Czechia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, referred in its explanation to “the selective application of the UN Charter”; Romania stated that foreign involvement in an illegal war of aggression violates the UN Charter4. Explanations by individual states for 2026 were not available to us verbatim when accessed.

How it was reported

The same figures, different headlines. The table gives headlines in the original and describes the focus; it does not rate the reports.

OutletOriginHeadlineDateFocus
UN NewsUnited Nations news service“Backing for UN call to end Cuba embargo falls to 20-year low”128 Oct 2026decline in support, comparison with 1992 and the peaks of 2015 and 2017
Reutersnews agency, United Kingdom“US Gets More Countries to Oppose UN Resolution Condemning Its Cuba Embargo”728 Oct 2026effect of US lobbying; Germany and Italy abstained for the first time in years
Al Jazeerabroadcaster, Qatar“UN votes to condemn embargo of Cuba despite US lobbying push”928 Oct 2026adoption despite US pressure
Xinhuastate news agency, China“UN votes overwhelmingly against U.S. embargo on Cuba”1029 Oct 2026large majority, content of the resolution
CiberCubaCuban online outlet published outside Cuba; English edition“The resolution against the embargo loses momentum at the UN: 35 fewer votes and more than double in opposition”528 Oct 2026loss of votes, full lists of no votes and abstentions
teleSURbroadcaster based in Caracas“Cuba agradece a los 130 países que votaron contra el bloqueo estadounidense en la ONU”830 Oct 2026thanks from the Cuban government, damage estimate according to Cuba

What the vote means and what it does not

General Assembly resolutions are recommendations and not legally binding. The vote shows how states position themselves; it does not measure the effect of the embargo or the human rights situation in Cuba. The topic sheets deal with both.

Figures marked “according to information given to” are not the cited body’s own measurements but information presented to it.

This page is information, not legal advice. It reports what authorities, courts, governments and organisations decide and say; the views of the side imposing measures and of the side affected stand side by side. “Helfen statt Blockieren” is non-partisan. Please report errors to info@aciel-martinez-poll.com.

Sources

  1. UN News, “Backing for UN call to end Cuba embargo falls to 20-year low”, 28 Oct 2026. https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/10/1168694
  2. UNI, “UN General Assembly votes for 34th consecutive year to end US embargo on Cuba”, 29 Oct 2026. https://www.uniindia.com/world/un-general-assembly-votes-for-34th-consecutive-year-to-end-us-embargo-on-cuba/229783
  3. Wikipedia, Article United States embargo against Cuba, table of UN votes, 3 Nov 2026. Secondary source as accessed; year-by-year primary check pending, see column pruefstatus in the CSV. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba
  4. UN Geneva, “Amid shifting alliances, General Assembly demands end to US embargo on Cuba”, 29 Oct 2025. https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/news/2025/10/112275/amid-shifting-alliances-general-assembly-demands-end-us-embargo-cuba
  5. CiberCuba, “The resolution against the embargo loses momentum at the UN: 35 fewer votes and more than double in opposition”, 28 Oct 2026. https://en.cibercuba.com/noticias/2026-10-28-u1-e74-s27061-nid344063-resolucion-contra-embargo-pierde-fuerza-onu-35-votos
  6. European External Action Service, Delegation to the UN in New York, “EU Explanation of Vote: UN General Assembly: Embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”, 30 Oct 2024. https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/un-new-york/eu-explanation-vote-%E2%80%93-un-general-assembly-embargo-imposed-united-states-america-against-cuba_en
  7. Reuters (Antoni Slodkowski), republished by GV Wire, “US Gets More Countries to Oppose UN Resolution Condemning Its Cuba Embargo”, 28 Oct 2026. https://gvwire.com/2026/10/28/us-gets-more-countries-to-oppose-un-resolution-condemning-its-cuba-embargo/
  8. teleSUR, “Cuba agradece a los 130 países que votaron contra el bloqueo estadounidense en la ONU”, 30 Oct 2026. https://www.telesurtv.net/cuba-agradecepaises-bloqueo-onu/
  9. Al Jazeera, “UN votes to condemn embargo of Cuba despite US lobbying push”, 28 Oct 2026. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/28/un-votes-to-condemn-embargo-of-cuba-despite-us-lobbying-push
  10. Xinhua, “UN votes overwhelmingly against U.S. embargo on Cuba”, 29 Oct 2026. https://english.news.cn/20261029/738029a58a074c22acaf74cfc9c28b05/c.html

All online sources accessed on 3 November 2026.

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