US and Cuba trade barbs at UN ahead of embargo vote

Washington and Havana clashed at the UN on October 19 over a Cuban-dissident event, ahead of next week's annual vote on ending the six-decade US embargo.

The United States and Cuba traded accusations at the United Nations on October 19 after US diplomats hosted an event featuring Cuban dissidents ahead of next week's annual General Assembly vote on ending the US embargo on the island. Cuba's ambassador confronted US ambassador Mike Waltz outside the event, accusing Washington of collective punishment.

Waltz told reporters the Cuban regime uses the resolution to justify its own oppression and misery, while Cuba's envoy called the US 'an international delinquent' inflicting suffering on a peaceful nation. The non-binding resolution has passed by wide margins every year since 1992, though only the US Congress can lift the embargo.

Tensions are rising amid a US-imposed oil blockade that has deepened Cuba's worst economic crisis in decades, marked by shortages, collapsing infrastructure and a total electrical grid failure last month. The vote is expected on October 27-28.