Morocco votes against UN call to end US embargo on Cuba, reversing 2024 stance

On October 28, Morocco joined the United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Argentina among the 17 countries opposed to the resolution presented to the United Nations General Assembly. The text was nevertheless adopted by 130 votes in favor, 17 against and 25 abstentions, according to the official UN results.

Morocco’s position contrasts with that of the previous two years. On October 30, 2024, Rabat was among the 187 countries calling for an end to the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by Washington on Havana. Only the United States and Israel voted against, while one country abstained, according to the United Nations voting data.

A year later, on October 29, 2025, Morocco changed its position, opting to abstain. The resolution then received 165 votes in favor, seven against and twelve abstentions. The detailed voting results thus show three successive positions taken by Rabat: in favor, abstaining, then against.

Support for Cuba falls sharply at the UN

Morocco’s reversal is part of a broader shift. In one year, the resolution lost 35 votes in favor, while the number of countries opposed rose from seven to seventeen. Germany and Italy, which voted in favor in 2025, abstained this time.

Washington had conducted a diplomatic campaign to persuade more states to reject the text or abstain.

Relations between Morocco and Cuba have themselves undergone several changes. The two countries restored diplomatic relations in April 2017, after nearly four decades of severed ties. In January 2022, a new Moroccan ambassador presented his credentials in Havana. Their positions on the Sahara have long been a point of disagreement.

Adopted for the thirty-fourth time since 1992, the resolution calls on the United States to end the embargo against Cuba. The vote is non-binding: it expresses the position of the General Assembly, while lifting the embargo is up to the US authorities.