The Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, devoted his press conference this Wednesday to refute Washington's allegations and denounce what he termed as a "slanderous and deceitful campaign" by the State Department.
According to the Cuban regime's foreign minister, the United States is allegedly pressuring and misleading various countries to sway votes in the upcoming United Nations General Assembly session, where the annual resolution against the embargo will be discussed.
Rodríguez Parrilla accused the Trump administration of "intimidating and blackmailing" Latin American and European governments, presenting what he described as "threatening letters" sent by U.S. diplomats.
"This is not diplomacy, it's extortion. They aim to divert global attention from the crime of the blockade and create excuses to justify their hostile policy against Cuba," he stated.
During his speech, the minister also firmly denied accusations regarding the deployment of Cuban mercenaries to the Ukraine war, labeling them as "absurd lies."
"They claim that up to 20,000 Cuban citizens have been recruited. Everyone knows that's a lie," Rodríguez Parrilla asserted, directly referencing a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable to Reuters and statements from the Kiev government.
This denial comes just a week after Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, through the humanitarian project "I Want to Live," claimed that thousands of Cubans are fighting alongside the Russian army.
Kiev argued that "there is no room for debate regarding the involvement of Cuban mercenaries in the war," and accused the Havana regime of "not doing enough to halt the systematic recruitment" of its citizens by Moscow.
The project claims over 1,000 Cubans have signed formal contracts with the Russian Armed Forces, while Ukrainian intelligence estimates more than 5,000 fighters.
The information is backed by contracts, lists of names, and testimonies from captured Cuban prisoners on the eastern front, as well as reports from families seeking missing relatives through the "I Want to Find" program.
The Cuban foreign minister's statements directly contradict the claims of the Ukrainian government and the documentation collected by international media and independent organizations.
Investigations by Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, and CiberCuba have confirmed the presence of regular flights between Moscow and Varadero, along with networks of Cuban and Russian intermediaries operating on the island since 2023.
Even the 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report by the State Department classifies the recruitment of Cubans for the war as a form of state-sponsored trafficking, akin to the medical missions system.
The document indicates that the Cuban regime "actively facilitated the departure of its citizens for military exploitation," by accelerating passports and omitting immigration stamps.
Despite the evidence, Rodríguez Parrilla insisted that the accusations are part of an "intoxicating campaign" designed to "undermine the historical support" Cuba receives at the UN.
"They attempt to intimidate countries into changing their vote, but the international community will not be deceived," he assured, predicting that on October 29, "Cuba will once again triumph in the General Assembly."
However, diplomatic circles sense growing unease in Havana. For the first time since 1992, the vote on the embargo will occur under documented accusations of military complicity with Russia, a scenario that could fracture the nearly unanimous consensus traditionally supporting the Cuban resolution.
This confrontation with Kiev also unfolds amid heightened regional tensions. Washington has reignited a policy of spheres of influence aimed at containing Moscow's allies in the hemisphere.
The U.S. Southern Command has conducted anti-drug trafficking operations in the Caribbean alongside the Dominican Republic and Barbados, while increasing pressure on Venezuela and Nicaragua, Havana's closest political allies.
In this context, Cuba finds itself exposed as a critical piece of the Moscow-Caracas-Managua axis, reliant on Venezuelan oil and Russian financing. The reduction of crude oil shipments and the internal energy crisis -- attributed by the regime to the embargo -- intensify perceptions of weakness, contradicting its narrative of resilience.
While Rodríguez Parrilla insists that "the blockade is the main cause of Cuba's economic problems," official data reveals a different reality.
In 2024 alone, Cuba imported over 370 million dollars in food and agricultural products from the United States, in addition to consumer goods and medical equipment from Europe and Canada.
Far from a total siege, Cuban foreign trade is more constrained by state inefficiency and internal restrictions than by external sanctions.
With the vote approaching, Havana's diplomatic offensive seeks to regain narrative control. Yet, the echoes from Kiev and Washington's evidence confront it with an unprecedented dilemma: it is no longer just about defending the anti-embargo resolution, but also justifying its own international discredit.