Original article by republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Ahead of the UN vote on the US-imposed blockade on Cuba, the US once again spread lies about the nature and intent of its coercive policy on Cuba

The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told multiple lies during his speech in the debate on the resolution demanding an end to the blockade against Cuba.

His speech repeated – almost point by point – the repertoire of already debunked arguments that Washington typically uses to justify its sanctions regime that is condemned year after year by the international community.

Under the guise of “correcting misinformation,” Waltz repeated claims that do not stand up to confrontation with the facts nor with current US legislation itself, and which seek to shift the focus from the material responsibility of the blockade towards political accusations against Cuba.

Waltz received a strong reaction from the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez who interrupted the representative from his seat:

“The Permanent Representative of the United States is not only lying, substantially straying from the topic, but he is also speaking rudely and, contrary to his president, against the dignity of the assembly and the member states. He is doing so in an uncivilized, crude, and rude manner. That is not acceptable in this democratic forum. Mr. Waltz, this is the United Nations General Assembly. It is not a Signal chat, nor is it the House of Representatives.”

The ten lies of the US Ambassador:

1. “The blockade does not exist.”

The US legislation that sustains the blockade – the Helms-Burton Act (including its Title III), the Torricelli Act, the “180-day rule,” sectoral and financial sanctions lists – exists and is in force. The Cuban Resolution against the blockade does not “invent” these rules: it documents them and shows their practical application. Furthermore, official US documents, such as the reissuance of Presidential Memorandum No. 5 (06/30/2025), confirm the continuity of the “maximum pressure” policy against Cuba.

2. “Cuba’s economic difficulties are the exclusive responsibility of the Havana government.”

The stated goal of US policy is to “strangle the economy” to provoke social unrest; this includes targeting fuel, finances, tourism, and medical cooperation. This siege impacts prices, investments, logistics, and liquidity, and explains a large part of the current economic tensions.

3. “The annual UN resolution is propaganda.”

The vote expresses a broad defense of international law and the UN Charter; the unusual deployment of US diplomatic pressures to alter votes underscores the isolation of this policy and the relevance of the multilateral pronouncement.

4. “The shortage of food and medicine is the fault of the Cuban government.”

There is a chain of bottlenecks caused by the US economic siege: in healthcare, the Basic Drug List (651 items) shows a 69% impact, with 364 drugs (56%) lacking due to payment obstacles, suppliers refusing to operate, and technological prohibitions blocking equipment or supplies with ≥10% US components. This prevents the acquisition or severely increases the cost of advanced medicines and critical devices (for example, percutaneous aortic valve prostheses or dialysis equipment), with a direct impact on care and health indicators.

Regarding food, the lack of financing and banking refusals forced the halt of imports of approximately 337,000 tons of corn and ~120,300 tons of soybeans (animal feed), leading to failures in the production of eggs for the Basic Food Basket. Even “authorized” purchases in the US are made under non-standard conditions: specific licenses, cash payment in advance (without credit), transport only on US ships and on one-way trips, which increases freight costs and delays deliveries. The lack of goods is due to lack of financing, limited access to credit, increased prices, high freight costs, and delays in arrivals, direct consequences of the blockade.

5. “The blockade allows for free export.”

There is no commercial “freedom”: the US legal framework establishes a policy of denial for exports/re-exports to Cuba (EAR) and prohibits subsidiaries of US companies in third countries from trading with Cuba; furthermore, the “180-day rule” is in effect, which discourages shipping companies from calling at Cuban ports, and permitted agricultural sales require cash payment in advance, without US financing. All this restricts and makes any operation more expensive, both for exporting and importing.

Added to this is extraterritorial financial persecution: fines and threats to banks and suppliers, refusals to open or maintain accounts, and blocked operations that cut off payment and collection flows. Cuba’s own report includes recent cases (OFAC fine to EFG; refusal to open an account for the EXPO Osaka; closures of embassy accounts) and quantifies widespread impacts on contracts, letters of credit, and transfers.

That is to say, far from “exporting freely,” Cuba trades under veto, licenses, and regulatory fear; in fact, the document lists measures that Washington could authorize – biomedicine, mining, tourism, easing of investment licenses, raising the 10% US component threshold, authorizing banking correspondents, removing Cuba from the SSOT list, and suspending Title III – and which it currently obstructs.

6. “Cuba has full freedom to trade with other countries.”

The US secondary (extraterritorial) measures deter and punish third parties (banks, shipping companies, insurers), increasing the costs and risks of operating with Cuba, which restricts real freedom of trade.

7. “The Cuban government traffics its medical personnel.”

Cuba maintains voluntary and widely recognized international cooperation; the US persecution seeks to cut off these revenues and deprive vulnerable populations of essential services, ignoring UN and PAHO standards.

8. “The Cuban government benefits from mercenarism.”

Cuba applies “zero tolerance” to mercenarism and has criminally prosecuted recruiters; it does not support or condone the participation of its nationals in external conflicts.

9. “Cuba destabilizes the hemisphere.”

What is destabilizing is the US military deployment and diplomatic blackmail in the Caribbean and the region; Cuba and CELAC uphold the principle of a “Zone of Peace”.

10. “Cuba contributes to the Russian ‘war machine’.”

Cuba does not participate in the war in Ukraine nor send troops; it has dismantled recruitment networks and sanctions mercenarism.