GEORGETOWN , Guyana – Eight former Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of state and government are urging countries to support an upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling for an end to the United States economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba.
In an open letter issued Saturday, the former leaders described the embargo as a violation of international law and warned that recent measures by Washington were worsening the economic hardships facing the Cuban people.
The resolution is scheduled to be considered by the UN General Assembly on October 28.
The signatories include former prime ministers Freundel Stuart of Barbados, Said Musa of Belize, Keith Mitchell and Tillman Thomas of Grenada, Bruce Golding and P.J. Patterson of Jamaica, former Guyanese president Donald Ramotar and former St. Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister Ralph Gonsalves.
“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 letter stated.
The former leaders noted that the General Assembly has overwhelmingly adopted resolutions calling for an end to the embargo every year since 1992, but Washington has continued to disregard the international community’s position.
They argued that this year’s vote was particularly significant because of what they described as intensified US sanctions targeting governments and entities supplying fuel and other energy products to Cuba.
The former leaders accused Washington of attempting to force the Cuban people into submission through economic pressure, describing the measures as inhumane and contrary to international law.
They also called on countries to resist what they described as US pressure to undermine the upcoming vote.
“The US 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 letter stated.
The former CARICOM leaders maintained that the unilateral sanctions could not be justified under the United Nations Charter and said Cuba posed no threat to other countries.
They appealed for renewed international solidarity with Havana, arguing that ending the embargo would help repair relations between Cuba and the United States.
“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,” the letter concluded.
