Former leaders and civil society urged the Government to back the resolution. It voted against on Wednesday.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Trinidad and Tobago’s vote against the UN resolution on the Cuba embargo on Wednesday came after four months of shifting signals, public appeals from former leaders and a heated General Assembly debate the day before.
The first sign came in July, when T&T abstained in a procedural vote to authorize an extraordinary UN session on the embargo, breaking with most of its CARICOM partners, Caribbean360 reported. The session was approved with 136 votes in favor and nine against.
As the annual vote approached, pressure grew on the Government to return to its long-standing support. Twenty-three Trinidadian social movements and former Foreign Minister Amery Browne publicly called on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to vote in favor. Eleven former Caribbean heads of government, including former T&T Prime Minister Keith Rowley, signed an open letter urging all countries to back the resolution. Persad-Bissessar responded on Tuesday, accusing the former leaders of hypocrisy, according to Caribbean360.
That day, the Assembly opened its debate in New York. US Ambassador Mike Waltz urged countries to reject the resolution, and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla shouted “You are a liar!” at him, prompting the Assembly president to briefly suspend the meeting. T&T delivered no statement during the debate, Caribbean Bridges reported. Aurax News has a separate report on the clash in its World section.
On Wednesday, T&T voted no, becoming the first CARICOM country ever to oppose the resolution, which passed 130 to 17 with 25 abstentions. T&T had voted in favor every year since 1992, including in 2025, when Cuba’s embassy publicly thanked Port of Spain, according to Caribbean Bridges. In a statement on X, the prime minister said the vote reflects the Government’s commitment to democracy, freedom and human rights and that T&T will not support a “military dictatorship” in Cuba. Her statement did not mention the earlier appeals.
The resolution is not legally binding. It calls on the United States to end its economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba, which only the US Congress can lift.
This report draws on information from Caribbean360, Caribbean Bridges, CNC3 and TTT News.