FOR the 33rd consecutive year, the UN approved on October 29 by an overwhelming majority a resolution condemning the US blockade against Cuba.

This vote comes at a precarious moment, as Cuba is enduring a difficult — indeed, a very difficult — period. Anyone who has recently visited the island can testify to that. The situation is even worse than in the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Cubans are dealing with daily power outages, shortages of medicines, and runaway inflation.

This is the result of the longest-lasting economic blockade in world history. In 2022, a UN commission stated that “the numerous United States sanctions constitute the most severe and prolonged system of unilateral coercive measures ever applied against any country.”

Without those deadly sanctions, life in Cuba would look very different. “If Cuba did not have a blockade, it could be like the Netherlands. It has an intellectually well-prepared, highly educated population,” said Brazilian president Lula in 2021.

But Uncle Sam does not allow it. For 60 years now, the US has done everything possible to bring the country to its knees.

“Washington’s hysterical dedication to crush Cuba from almost the first days of its independence in 1959 is one of the most extraordinary phenomena of modern history, but still, the level of petty sadism is a constant surprise,” said Noam Chomsky.

From someone like Donald Trump, that sadism should not be surprising. As expected, his administration tightened the screws even further. Among other measures, Cuba was placed on the list of countries that support terrorism. As a result, financial transactions with foreign entities are almost completely blocked. Over the past year, 40 banks have refused to carry out transactions with Cuba.

For the economy of any country, such a situation is a heavy blow. Moreover, like many other nations in the global South, Cuba is still struggling with the economic aftermath of the Covid crisis. The tourism sector — the lifeline of the Cuban economy — has been hit particularly hard. In the first quarter of 2025, the number of foreign visitors fell by 30 per cent.

By cutting Cuba off from the world’s largest economy and making financial transactions more difficult, growth has stalled. Trade has become more expensive and slower, foreign investors have pulled back, and sectors such as agriculture, industry and tourism are operating below capacity.

According to the report prepared by Cuba this year to support the UN resolution, the blockade causes $100 million in damage to the Cuban economy in just five days. That amount equals the funding needed to repair one of the country’s main thermoelectric power plants.

On an annual basis, total losses due to the blockade are estimated at $7.5 billion, or 7 per cent of the GDP. Converted to the equivalent in Britain, that would mean a loss of £202bn, which shows just how great the impact is.

Naturally, this also has major consequences for the daily lives of Cubans. Hospitals are struggling with shortages of medicines, medical equipment, and even simple spare parts. This results in delayed treatments and lower quality of care, from cancer therapies to the management of common diseases.

Food is another major problem. Cuba has to import a large share of its food, but due to restrictions on transport and financing, costs and delivery times increase. This drives up prices and regularly leads to shortages, with tangible effects on the nutrition and well-being of families.

The blockade also slows technological development. Access to technology and software from the US is severely restricted, which widens the digital divide. This hinders education and research, stifles business growth, and limits access to information for the entire population.

Even harder to gauge is the emotional toll. The Cuban foreign minister puts it this way: “It is impossible to express in figures the emotional damage, the fear, the suffering and the hardships that the blockade causes to Cuban families. This has been the case for generations, since more than 80 per cent of Cubans on the island were born after the beginning of the blockade.”

Despite all this aggression, deprivation and emotional harm, the US does not succeed in disrupting the country to such an extent that the population turns against the revolution. But it has indeed caused the largest migration wave in Cuban history. Since 2020, likely more than a million people have left the island, especially young people, which is about 10 per cent of the population.

On October 28 and 29, the Cuban resolution “Necessity of ending the economic, financial and commercial blockade of Cuba” was discussed in the UN general assembly. As in previous years, it was expected that the resolution would be approved by an overwhelming majority. The only votes against last year were those of the US and Israel.

This year the Trump administration did everything possible to increase the number of votes against and abstentions. Through an internal memo, US diplomats were encouraged worldwide to pressure governments to vote in that sense.

But it did not succeed. Once again an overwhelming majority voted for the immediate end of this cruel and pointless sanctions policy. 165 countries voted in favor, seven against (including the US, Israel, Ukraine, Argentina and Hungary), and there were 12 abstentions.

In this matter Washington is highly isolated, but Cubans are paying a high price.