CUBA · UN VOTE
Key Facts
- —The country Cuba, a Communist-run island in the Caribbean, brings a non-binding resolution against the US embargo to the UN General Assembly every year, and Germany has long voted yes.
- —Why it matters The United States voted no in 2024 and 2025 and is courting other governments. A German move from yes would be a visible break among the resolution’s backers, but Berlin has announced none.
- —Why now The vote is scheduled for Wednesday 28 October 2026. A Bundestag document of Friday 9 October shows the German government had not settled its line.
- —What happened On Wednesday 7 October 2026 State Secretary Géza Andreas von Geyr wrote that Germany’s position on the vote is “not yet concluded”.
- —The numbers The 2025 resolution passed 165 to 7 with 12 abstentions on 29 October, down from 187 yes votes in 2024.
- —What it means for you US readers can watch whether a major European ally departs from its record, which would show how far Washington’s push on Cuba carries.
- —Still open Whether Germany votes yes, abstains or votes no. No source says it will change.
- —Power Index Cuba ranks 14th of 14 in The Rio Times Latin America Power Index, with 22.5 points (October 2026 edition).
Germany has not decided how it will vote in the Cuba embargo vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday 28 October 2026, a written government reply shows. State Secretary Géza Andreas von Geyr wrote on Wednesday 7 October that the position is “not yet concluded”, and the Bundestag printed the reply on Friday 9 October.
For US readers the vote tests how much support Washington’s embargo policy has among allies, because the United States voted against the resolution in 2024 and 2025. Kubakunde and Cuba Headlines say the State Department confirmed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone on Tuesday 13 October with El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, about shared priorities at the UN that include Cuba.
The reply is not new. Berliner Zeitung first reported it on Wednesday 14 October, and CiberCuba and Periódico Cubano carried it again on Sunday 18 October under headlines saying Germany “could change” its vote, which goes further than the reply itself.
What the Bundestag Reply Says
Sören Pellmann, a Bundestag member for the left-wing opposition party Die Linke, filed written question 78 asking whether the government is considering a change to its earlier approval of the Cuba resolution and, if so, why. The question names the text as “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”.
Von Geyr answered on Wednesday 7 October in a single sentence: the government’s position on the vote is “not yet concluded”. The printed reply, in Bundestag document 21/8470 of Friday 9 October, neither confirms nor rules out a change.
The wording matters because the question asked about a change while the answer speaks only of an unfinished position. Nothing in the reply says Germany is leaning towards an abstention or a no vote.
Pellmann read more into it. He told the Ostdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung and Berliner Zeitung that a government weighing, in his words for the first time since 2002, not to vote for the resolution had “completely lost its foreign-policy compass”.
That is a political judgement from an opposition lawmaker, not a statement by the government. The Foreign Office has said nothing further in the sources we could open.
Germany’s Record Before the Cuba Embargo Vote
Berliner Zeitung and Kubakunde say Germany has voted for the resolution every year since 2002, but UN press records show yes votes already in 1996, 1997 and 2001, after an abstention in 1995. The UN’s own account of 29 October 2025 names the seven countries that voted no and the 12 that abstained, and Germany is on neither list.
The Assembly adopted the text on Wednesday 29 October 2025 by 165 votes to 7 with 12 abstentions, the 33rd year in a row. A year earlier it had passed by 187 votes to two, with one abstention.
Argentina, Hungary, Paraguay, North Macedonia and Ukraine joined the United States and Israel in voting no in 2025, the UN said. Costa Rica, Ecuador, Czechia, Poland, Romania and others abstained.
Pellmann’s question says Germany abstained on Tuesday 7 July 2026 in a General Assembly vote on a Cuban request for a debate on the embargo. A government reply of 20 August by State Secretary Bernhard Kotsch called that vote “a procedural question” and said Germany supported an EU statement on the embargo.
Kubakunde puts the July count at 136 in favour, nine against and 30 abstentions. Berliner Zeitung adds that in March the government said it watched Cuba’s humanitarian situation “with concern”, and that in August the Foreign Office said tariff threats and economic sanctions are not a “blockade” in the sense of international law.
The government has not linked those earlier signals to the October vote. The paper and Kubakunde draw that link themselves.
What the Cuban Exile Campaign Adds
On Tuesday 13 October more than 554 Cuban dissidents, activists and groups, among them José Daniel Ferrer and Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, sent an open letter to governments in the European Union, Britain, Canada, Japan and Latin America. They ask them to vote no or abstain on the resolution, arguing that it mainly serves the leadership in Havana.
Ferrer, who leads the Cuban opposition group UNPACU, said at a press conference in Miami that a related petition has passed 1,000 signatures. The count is his own, gathered through a digital platform and WhatsApp from inside Cuba, and it has not been independently checked.
Gutiérrez-Boronat, secretary general of the exile Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, told CubaNet that backing the United States in this vote supports Cubans fighting for freedom. That is the campaign’s stated position, not a finding.
Havana sees pressure from the other side. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla wrote on X on Wednesday 14 October that Rubio is coercing governments to change their votes, an accusation the sources do not back with evidence beyond the one confirmed Bukele call.
What It Means for You
The resolution is not binding, so the vote changes no US law and no sanction. Its weight is political, because each government that moves from yes to abstain or no hands Washington an argument that the embargo has wider support than before.
Readers following the Cuba file will find the wider setting in our guide Cuba Geopolitics 2026: Who Backs Havana, Who Presses It. The island’s fuel and power crisis, which Havana ties to US measures, is covered in Cuba Grid Splits in East as 1,680 MW Shortfall Looms.
Our earlier report on the push at the UN is Ghana’s President Takes His Call to End the US Cuba Embargo to the UN. The Cuba embargo vote on 28 October will show whether the 2025 drop to 165 yes votes continues.
What Is Not Known
It is not known how Germany will vote, and no source says it will abstain or vote no. The Bundestag print is marked as a preliminary version to be replaced by an edited text, and the reply is one sentence long.
We could not open the UN’s own meeting schedule, but Cuba’s UN ambassador told EFE on 16 October that the Assembly takes up the resolution on 27 and 28 October, and 14ymedio gives the same dates. The vote itself is placed on 28 October by the Bundestag question and several outlets, while one broadcaster named 29 October.
Ferrer’s signature count and Rodríguez’s claim of pressure are unverified, and which other governments Washington has approached is not public. We did not check every year of Germany’s record, and a Berliner Zeitung headline from July refers to a German position since 1992, which the 1995 abstention does not match.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will Germany change its vote on the Cuba embargo?
Germany has not said so. A Foreign Office reply of 7 October says its position is “not yet concluded”.
When is the Cuba embargo vote at the UN?
The Assembly takes up the resolution on 27 and 28 October 2026, and the vote is scheduled for Wednesday 28 October, according to the Bundestag question and Cuba’s UN ambassador. The UN programme itself could not be opened.
How did Germany vote in 2025?
Berliner Zeitung says Germany was among the 165 countries that voted yes on 29 October 2025. The UN lists Germany neither among the seven no votes nor among the 12 abstentions.
Is the UN resolution on the Cuba embargo binding?
No, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding. Its weight is political.
How has support for the resolution changed?
It fell from 187 yes votes in 2024 to 165 in 2025. Kubakunde counts 136 in favour in a July 2026 procedural vote.
What does it mean for US readers?
The United States votes against the resolution, so a German shift would be a political gain for Washington. Nothing in US law changes with the vote.
Sources: Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 21/8470, 9 October 2026 (question 78, reply of 7 October); Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 21/7670, 21 August 2026 (question 27); Berliner Zeitung, 14 October 2026; Kubakunde, 15 October 2026; Cuba Headlines, 14 October 2026; CiberCuba, 18 October 2026; Periódico Cubano, 18 October 2026; UN General Assembly vote report, 29 October 2025; EFE via ABC Color, 16 October 2026; 14ymedio, 15 October 2026; UN press release GA/9164, 12 November 1996; GA/9349, 5 November 1997; GA/8983, 2 November 1995; GA/9979, 2001.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief