Nine former heads of state and government of the Caribbean community issued an “Open Letter to all Nations of the World” on the eve of the Oct. 27-28 meeting of the UN General Assembly. On October 28, for the 34th consecutive year, that assembly voted in favor of a resolution calling for an end to the economic, commercial, and financial strangulation of Cuba imposed by the United States. The margin was 130 to 17.

The letter and the vote are all the more striking because the U.S. State Department in recent weeks has engaged in a well-publicized campaign of overt threats and blackmail against diplomats from many countries, threatening them with personal consequences—including revocation of visas, harassment of families and children, and similar thuggish tactics—should they vote in favor of the Resolution. Many Caribbean governments acquiesced, perhaps because of the Jan. 3, 2026, invasion of Venezuela and kidnapping of its President Nicolás Maduro.

Open Letter to All Nations of the World From Former Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community on the Upcoming Resolution at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial, and Financial Embargo Imposed by the United States of America Against Cuba

On October 28, 2026, UNGA will consider a Resolution on the necessity and desirability of ending the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba. This American imposition is contrary to international law and every civilised precept of life and living. Every year since 1992, UNGA has been adopting overwhelmingly a Resolution on this subject. Yet, the U.S.A. has been ignoring the clear voice of the international community, the requisites of international law, and the most elemental of civilising principles.

We, the undersigned former Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), strongly and unequivocally urge all nations to vote in favour of the Resolution on October 28, 2026, at UNGA.

The vote on this UNGA Resolution this year is more urgent and important than ever before. In recent months, the U.S. government has further ramped up its illegal embargo against Cuba in an attempt to starve the Cuban people into submission through the imposition of third-party sanctions against any government or entity which grants, sells or transports energy products, including gasoline and diesel, to Cuba. Surely, such U.S. conduct is a crime against humanity, and undoubtedly contrary to international law.

Accordingly, it is imperative that the blandishments and pressures currently being deployed by the U.S.A. to derail and defeat the proposed UNGA Resolution must be resisted. The U.S. embargo continues to be a threat to hemispheric and international peace and security; the embargo is a brazen violation of Cuba’s right to sovereignty and independence; the embargo derogates from the most elemental human rights of a people established and declared by international law. The unilateral, coercive actions of the U.S.A. against Cuba represent the law of the jungle, and can in no way be justified by the Charter of the United Nations or any other source of international law and justice.

Let us all be reminded that Cuba is not a threat to any nation or any person on planet Earth!

Let us all contribute to the healing of the hemispheric fracture between the United States of America and Cuba by supporting the UNGA Resolution on October 28, 2026.

Let us all stand with Cuba and humanity on this matter!

Dated this 24th day of October, 2026.

Signatories:

Winston Baldwin Spencer – Former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda

Freundel Stuart – Former Prime Minister of Barbados

Dean Barrow – Former Prime Minister of Belize

Saed Musa – Former Prime Minister of Belize

Keith Mitchell – Former Prime Minister of Grenada

Tillman Thomas – Former Prime Minister of Grenada

Donald Ramotar – Former President of Guyana

Bruce Golding – Former Prime Minister of Jamaica

P.J. Patterson – Former Prime Minister of Jamaica

Kenny Anthony – Former Prime Minister of St. Lucia

Ralph Gonsalves – Former Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Keith Rowley – Former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago