Overview
- Cuba has requested an urgent UN General Assembly session for July 7 to denounce what it calls an energy ‘‘siege’’ and new U.S. measures that Havana says have worsened a long-running structural crisis.
- Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez publicly accused U.S. diplomatic networks of carrying out ‘‘unprecedented pressures’’ on other states to block or reshape the New York debate.
- Reporting in The Nation, cited by La Jornada, alleges Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered U.S. embassies to persuade host governments to oppose the session or, if it proceeds, to attack Cuba’s government in speeches; that claim is reported but has limited independent corroboration in the material reviewed.
- Cuba and allied groups say the pressure compounds a campaign of sanctions including a May 1 Executive Order that targets activity in energy, defense, finance and mining, and that fuel shortages have produced prolonged blackouts and disruptions to health and public services.
- Watch the July 7 session for whether member states support Cuba’s complaint, how delegations frame causes of the crisis, and whether U.S. diplomatic efforts succeed in blocking or altering the Assembly’s debate and vote.