Rubio Presses Bukele to Isolate Cuba at UN

For decades, the United States has struggled to find allies at the United Nations willing to defend its economic blockade on Cuba.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spent much of the year trying to change that, lobbying foreign governments to withdraw their support for Cuba and warning those that refuse to fall in line.

During an October 13 phone call with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Rubio urged El Salvador to align with U.S. priorities at the UN, according to a State Department readout.

El Salvador has historically supported UN resolutions demanding an end to the U.S. embargo. Last year, despite Bukele’s close alliance with the Trump administration, El Salvador did not participate in the vote.

Rubio told Bukele “the Cuban regime will not make the reforms the Cuban people deserve while it believes the international community is on its side.”

In July, a leaked State Department cable obtained by The Nation revealed that Rubio had instructed U.S. diplomats to lobby governments against holding a UN debate on the humanitarian consequences of U.S. sanctions on Cuba.

Rubio told diplomats to encourage U.S. allies to criticize Cuba, urge nonaligned countries to remain silent and warn governments that traditionally opposed the embargo that “the United States will be listening very closely” to their statements.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the State Department of “pressure, blackmail and threats.”

But Rubio’s lobbying effort to prevent the UN debate failed. On July 7, the General Assembly voted 136–9, with one abstention, to proceed with the debate.

The issue will come before the General Assembly again on October 28, when it will vote on an annual resolution demanding an end to the blockade. The resolution has passed 33 times in a row, with the U.S. and Israel its only consistent opponents. In 2024, they were the only two countries to vote against it.

Last year, the Trump administration managed to bring five more countries into its corner, while 12 abstained. Still, 165 countries voted to condemn the blockade.