US, Cuba trade accusations at UN ahead of embargo vote

The United States and Cuba have traded accusations at the United Nations ahead of next week’s annual vote on ending the US trade embargo on the island.

The row broke out on Monday after US diplomats hosted an event at the UN building featuring Cuban dissidents. The event focused on allegations of human rights abuses by the Cuban government.

Cuba’s ambassador to the UN, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, and other Cuban representatives shouted at the US ambassador, Mike Waltz, as he left.

Waltz accused Cuban diplomats of “harassing, yelling, intimidating, and filming” former political prisoners who had recently been released.

“Year after year, the Cuban regime comes to the General Assembly and propagates a lie through its annual resolution,” he told reporters in New York.

Speaking outside the event, Guzmán accused the US of “enforcing collective punishment on the people of Cuba” and “inflicting immense suffering upon the whole population of a peaceful nation.”

The non-binding resolution calling for an end to the embargo has passed in the UN General Assembly by wide margins every year since 1992. This year’s vote is expected on October 27 and 28.

The vote can carry political weight, but only the US Congress can lift the embargo, which has been in place for more than 60 years.

Cuba blames US sanctions for its worst economic crisis in decades, which has brought shortages of basic goods, collapsing infrastructure and runaway inflation.

Tensions have grown as President Donald Trump’s administration steps up pressure on Cuba, including an oil blockade. The country’s electricity grid collapsed completely last month, leaving millions without power.