In a week marked by dramatic developments on both sides of the Florida Straits, U.S.-Cuba relations have again come under intense scrutiny. Immigration enforcement actions in Florida and a high-profile United Nations vote have highlighted the enduring friction between the two nations—a tension that stretches back more than six decades and shows little sign of abating.
On the weekend before November 3, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of three Cuban nationals living illegally in the United States. According to ICE, Alexander Herrera Acosta, Joaquín Viamonte Salas, and Erisbel Artiles were apprehended in separate operations. All three men had extensive criminal records and, in the case of Viamonte Salas and Artiles, active final deportation orders.
Herrera Acosta’s arrest took place at his home in Cape Coral, Florida. ICE described him as one of “the worst of the worst,” a designation reserved for individuals considered violent foreign criminals. His criminal record includes a conviction for sexual abuse of minors, a fact that, as ICE emphasized, placed him at the top of their priority list for removal. Viamonte Salas, aged 34, was also detained after being subject to a final removal order in 2024. His record includes convictions for sexual assault, assault, and theft. ICE did not specify the location of his arrest, but noted that “we were going to arrest him one way or another, and his mother knew it.” In a scene ICE shared on social media, Viamonte’s mother was pictured handing a mobile phone to officers as her son was handcuffed. The agency stated, “When we have the cooperation of the community, we are all safer.”
Artiles, 47, was arrested in Tallahassee during a joint operation with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, under the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to collaborate with ICE on immigration enforcement. His criminal history is extensive, including theft, kidnapping, vehicle theft, illegal detention, and drug-related charges. Notably, Artiles was sentenced in 2010 to more than 10 years in prison for hostage-taking in a human trafficking case involving the illegal transportation of a Guatemalan immigrant to Florida. His mother was also prosecuted for complicity in the smuggling operation.
These arrests are part of a broader crackdown that has seen an unspecified number of Cuban immigrants with criminal records detained by ICE in multiple states since January 2025. Many have been sent to detention centers to await expulsion, while others have already been deported. This strict enforcement is a hallmark of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, which have intensified since President Donald Trump’s return to office earlier this year.
Yet, deporting Cuban nationals is often far from straightforward. According to official data from the Department of Homeland Security, more than 42,000 Cubans currently have final deportation orders. However, the Cuban government is frequently reluctant to accept returnees, particularly those with criminal records or who emigrated before January 2017. This refusal complicates U.S. efforts to remove individuals deemed a threat to public safety. In such cases, the U.S. government has sometimes resorted to deporting immigrants to third countries. The Supreme Court granted the White House permission in June 2025 to deport certain immigrants to countries other than their own, even if they face risks of torture or death. As a result, two Cubans with substantial criminal histories were sent to South Sudan, another to the Kingdom of Eswatini in July, and others to Mexico. Between January and September 2025, 999 people were deported to Cuba by air under existing migration agreements, but many more remain in legal limbo.
While these enforcement actions play out domestically, the U.S. continues to face mounting criticism abroad for its longstanding policy toward Cuba. On October 29, 2025, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution demanding an end to the U.S. economic, commercial, and financial embargo against Cuba—a policy often referred to as the “blockade.” Of the 193 UN member states, 165 (representing 85.5%) voted in favor of the measure, while just seven countries, including the United States and Israel, opposed it. Twelve nations abstained. The vote, as reported by Geopolitical Economy, marked yet another instance of overwhelming international condemnation of the embargo, which has persisted for more than sixty years.
Venezuela, which has consistently supported Cuba, was unable to cast a vote this year, having lost its voting rights due to unpaid UN fees—a situation it blames on U.S. sanctions that have blocked access to foreign reserves. The Trump administration, with Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio at the helm, had invested considerable diplomatic effort in persuading other countries to oppose the resolution. Despite this, only six nations joined the U.S. in opposition, a result Reuters described as a “big diplomatic loss” for Washington. The administration did succeed in convincing several Eastern and Central European countries to abstain, citing Cuba’s alliance with Russia as a point of contention. However, the vast majority of the world’s nations remained steadfast in their call to end the embargo.
The roots of the U.S. embargo run deep. The Associated Press recently noted that “of Cuba’s nearly 10 million residents, 80% have spent their entire lives under sanctions, which increased significantly during Trump’s first term, continued under his successor, President Joe Biden, and were tightened again after Trump returned to office this year.” In June 2025, President Trump signed an executive order further increasing punitive measures against Cuba, boasting of taking a tougher stance against what he termed the “Communist regime.”
U.S. officials have long been candid about the goals of the embargo. A 1960 State Department memo, cited by Geopolitical Economy, explicitly stated that the objective was “to weaken the economic life of Cuba” and to “bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.” This policy, the memo explained, was designed to foster “disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship.” Such admissions have fueled international criticism and calls for change, but the U.S. government has largely ignored annual UN resolutions demanding an end to the embargo.
The fraught relationship between the two countries is further complicated by a legacy of covert operations and violence. The CIA attempted to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro at least 638 times, according to official documents. The failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the shadowy Operation Northwoods—an early 1960s plan to provoke war with Cuba by committing acts of terrorism in U.S. cities and blaming Cuba—underscore the extremes to which U.S. policy has gone in its campaign against the island nation.
As the U.S. continues its strict immigration enforcement and maintains its decades-old embargo, the practical and humanitarian consequences of these policies remain hotly debated. For the thousands of Cubans caught in the crossfire—whether facing deportation from the U.S. or enduring economic hardship in Cuba—the political standoff is anything but abstract. It’s a daily reality shaped by history, ideology, and the shifting winds of international diplomacy.
The events of this week serve as a stark reminder: despite the passage of time, the story of U.S.-Cuba relations is far from finished, and its next chapter remains unwritten.
