CNC3 Reports US Official’s Support for T&T’s Cuba Position

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Trinidad and Tobago voted for the same resolution in October 2025, according to the UN voting record. It later abstained in a separate July 2026 procedural vote concerning Cuba. Those were different decisions. Ahead of the October 2026 annual vote, former Caribbean leaders, including Keith Rowley, urged support for ending the embargo, while Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar criticised their appeal and Cuba’s political system.

Sources: Trinidad Guardian, 27 Oct ↗

Former foreign ministers Amery Browne and Winston Dookeran and local civil-society groups also urged a yes vote. Dookeran told the Guardian on 27 October that support for Cuba’s sovereignty should continue. The General Assembly debated the measure that day but did not vote until 28 October. The resolution is non-binding and does not itself remove US sanctions.

Trinidad and Tobago supported the annual anti-embargo resolution in October 2025, according to the UN roll call. In July 2026, the country abstained on a separate procedural Cuba vote. Before this year’s annual decision, former Caribbean leaders, former ministers and local groups appealed for another yes vote. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar criticised the former leaders’ appeal. Winston Dookeran renewed his call in the Guardian on 27 October, after a heated General Assembly debate. No vote was taken that day.

Sources: Trinidad Guardian, 27 Oct ↗ · Trinidad Guardian, 28 Oct ↗ · UN voting record, 29 Oct 2025 ↗

On 28 October, the General Assembly adopted the resolution by 130 votes to 17, with 25 abstentions, according to its meeting transcript. La Jornada listed Trinidad and Tobago among the countries voting against. That country-level claim has not yet been confirmed against the UN roll call; the transcript available at this update provides totals only. The Government’s explanation of its vote has not been found in the material reviewed.

Sources: UN General Assembly transcript, 28 Oct ↗ · La Jornada, 28 Oct ↗

Later on 28 October, the Trinidad Guardian independently reported that Trinidad and Tobago was among the 17 countries voting against the resolution. Its account agrees with La Jornada’s earlier country-level report and contrasts with Trinidad and Tobago’s recorded yes vote in 2025. The available UN meeting transcript confirms the 2026 totals but does not list individual countries, so that official roll call and the Government’s explanation remain outstanding.

Sources: UN General Assembly transcript, 28 Oct ↗ · La Jornada, 28 Oct ↗ · UN voting record, 29 Oct 2025 ↗ · Trinidad Guardian, 28 Oct ↗

After the 28 October vote, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar defended Trinidad and Tobago’s reported position in a UNC statement described by the Trinidad Guardian. She said the Government supported democratic rights for Cubans and would not endorse what she called a military dictatorship. The Guardian also reported that the US Embassy in Port of Spain thanked Trinidad and Tobago for its vote. These statements explain the Prime Minister’s position; they do not change the resolution’s non-binding status or replace the still-outstanding official country-by-country roll call.

Sources: Trinidad Guardian, 29 Oct ↗

At a Divali with the Diplomats event on the evening of 29 October, Persad-Bissessar again defended the Government’s reported no vote. TTT reported that she cited democratic rights and human suffering in Cuba, while calling its government a military dictatorship. These are her political assessments and stated reasons for the vote; the UN resolution and the embargo itself were unchanged by the remarks.

Sources: TTT News, 29 Oct, 9:49 p.m. AST ↗

During the same speech, she referred to Trinidad and Tobago’s election to the UN Security Council for 2027–28 and to regional security cooperation. The UN’s June election announcement confirms 181 votes and says the country is serving a second term; TTT’s description of it as a first term is incorrect on that point. This separate Council election does not establish the country-by-country result of the October Cuba vote.

Sources: TTT News, 29 Oct, 9:49 p.m. AST ↗ · United Nations in Trinidad and Tobago, 3 June 2026 ↗

On 30 October, Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Sean Sobers defended the vote in the House of Representatives, according to TTT News. He said it supported democratic rights for Cubans and reflected the Prime Minister’s earlier call for political change. That is the Government’s stated justification, not an independent finding about Cuba’s political conditions. The station also reported his account of how other countries voted or abstained; those country-level claims have not been adopted here without the official UN roll call.

Sources: TTT News, 30 Oct, 5:37 p.m. Trinidad time ↗

Also on 30 October, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau thanked Persad-Bissessar and the Government for their position on Cuba in an X exchange reported by CNC3 on 31 October. She replied by reaffirming support for democracy, freedom, human dignity and Cubans’ right to determine their political future. These are the officials’ political positions, not a change to the embargo or the non-binding resolution. The original posts have not been independently inspected in this review.

Sources: CNC3, 31 Oct, 3:06 p.m. Trinidad time ↗