By Ayose Naranjo
HAVANA, June 30 (Reuters) - Cuba's foreign minister said on Tuesday that the U.S. State Department was "pressuring and intimidating" United Nations member states to put off an upcoming floor debate over the U.S. blockade of the communist-run island.
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez also told reporters at a press conference in Havana that the U.S. sanctions were "causing deaths" in Cuba.
The debate, slated for July 7, typically precedes a U.N. vote of member states later in the year
to call on the U.S. to end its sanctions against Cuba.
United Nations has voted 31 times, including in November of 2025, to ask the United States to end the decades-long trade embargo. Those votes have historically been near unanimous, with typically only the United States and Israel in opposition.
The non-binding vote this year, however, takes on special relevance for Cuba after the Trump administration in January imposed a fuel blockade on the island and fresh sanctions that have led to an exodus of foreign investment and the near total collapse of tourism.
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the foreign minister`s allegations.
U.N. experts have previously called the U.S. fuel blockade, implemented in January, illegal and a violation of the human rights of all Cubans.
(Reporting by Ayose Naranjo and Dave Sherwood, Editing by Kylie Madry and Sanjeev Miglani)
