10/09/2026
Cuba is not the threat. The blockade is. 🇨🇺
At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday, the evidence was on the table.
UN Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan presented the findings of her investigation into the impact of unilateral coercive measures on the human rights of the Cuban people. Her report, A/HRC/63/29/Add.1, followed an eleven-day visit to Cuba in November 2025, where she met government officials, private entrepreneurs, doctors, teachers, journalists and families.
Her conclusion is stark: US unilateral coercive measures have had a profound and far-reaching impact on the enjoyment of human rights in Cuba, affecting essential areas of daily life.
And now, that pressure has extended to something even more fundamental: energy.
⚖️ Among the recommendations directed at the United States are:
➡️ Lift the coercive measures against Cuba
➡️ Remove measures affecting access to food, medicines and essential goods
➡️ End Cuba's designation as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism”
➡️ Terminate the national emergency concerning Cuba
➡️ End measures that penalise banks for transactions involving Cuba
➡️ Remove obstacles affecting family remittances
➡️ Pursue dialogue and cooperation to resolve differences
The timing makes these findings even more urgent.
In January 2026, a new US executive order targeted countries supplying fuel to Cuba. In April, UN Special Procedures raised concerns over its impact on the rights to development, food, education, health, water and sanitation.
Ambassador Rodolfo Benítez Verson told the Council plainly: the blockade has not eased. It has escalated into an energy siege, with consequences for electricity generation, hospitals, schools, water distribution, transport, food production and access to medicines.
The response in Geneva was significant.
Mexico told the Council that US measures against Cuba are contrary to international law and must end. Uganda, speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, reaffirmed opposition to unilateral coercive measures. Venezuela spoke on behalf of the Group of Friends in Defense of the UN Charter, while Iran denounced such measures as contrary to sovereign equality.
There was no vote. A Special Rapporteur's country-visit report is not adopted by a vote. Instead, Member States took the floor one after another, expressing their positions on unilateral coercive measures and calling for an end to US measures against Cuba.
And there was another striking feature of the discussion: the United States was not sitting in the Council. Its previous term ended in 2024. In February 2025, the US administration announced that it would no longer participate in the Human Rights Council or seek election to it.
Washington continues to defend its Cuba policy elsewhere, including at the United Nations. But in Geneva this week, it had no seat in the Council from which to respond to the interventions.
Cuba is not the threat. The blockade is.
