Top Cuban diplomat accuses US of threatening countries that vote with Cuba at UN

Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez accused the United States on Wednesday of threatening member states of the United Nations with sanctions should they side with Cuba in next week's annual UN vote on a resolution calling for an end to a US embargo on the island.



"The US State Department is exerting unprecedented pressure — at times in a personal and brazen manner by the secretary of state himself — to get UN member states to change their votes," Rodriguez said.



Tensions between the two nations are soaring ahead of the vote on the non-binding resolution, which has passed in favor of Cuba in the UN General Assembly by wide margins every year since 1992.



Rodriguez told reporters at a press conference in Havana that US officials had threatened to deny visas and impose trade and economic sanctions on UN members that side with Cuba at the United Nations.