The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, had a tense confrontation on Tuesday with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla during the extraordinary session of the General Assembly requested by the regime to discuss the U.S. embargo.
The most intense moment occurred when Rodríguez interrupted the U.S. diplomat's speech for the second time with a point of order. Rather than retracting, Waltz responded firmly:
"You can do whatever you want. This is not Havana; this is the United States of America and the United Nations. We are going to intervene, and we will not remain silent like you do with your people."
The words created an atmosphere of maximum tension in the assembly and set the tone for a speech in which the U.S. representative issued one of the harshest criticisms of the Cuban dictatorship pronounced at the UN in recent years.
Rodríguez had previously interrupted the speech calling Waltz a "liar" and asserting that the UN "is not a Green Beret camp." On both occasions, the presidency of the Assembly rejected the Cuban Foreign Minister's objections by reminding him that Article 71 of the rules prohibits using points of order to debate the content of a speech, thus returning the floor to the American ambassador.
As he resumed his intervention, Waltz replied without raising his voice:
"The truth hurts, and the truth is not a sign of disrespect. I am very sorry that the Cuban delegation does not want to hear this."
A speech focused on the Cuban crisis
The diplomat took the opportunity during his intervention to denounce the political, economic, and humanitarian crisis that the island is experiencing.
He recalled that while the session was taking place, Cuba was experiencing a nationwide blackout— the seventh collapse of the electrical system in just 18 months — and contrasted that reality with the steady power supply in the Castro family's residences and in government buildings.
He also read before the Assembly the names of several Cuban political prisoners, including Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, whose sentence ends this week; musician Fernando Almadévez Rivera; rapper Miguel Castillo Pérez; poet Duanes León Tovero; and brothers Jorge and Nadir Martín Perdomo.
"They are not violent. They carry no weapons. What they bring are flowers, and they write poetry and songs. And that is why the regime tries to put an end to them," he stated.
"The only embargo is the one that the regime imposes on its people."
Waltz also questioned the official narrative regarding the American embargo.
He asked the present delegations how one could speak of a "total blockade" when Cuba receives humanitarian aid from Canada, China, Russia, Spain, the European Union, and the United Nations itself, and when exports worth hundreds of millions of dollars are sent from Florida ports to the island.
"The only embargo is the guillotine that the regime holds over the heads of its own citizens," he declared.
The ambassador also reported that GAESA, the business conglomerate controlled by the Cuban Armed Forces, manages approximately half of the national economy and a fund of about 18 billion dollars, while "not a cent" reaches the people.
He also accused the regime of appropriating the salaries of doctors sent abroad and of Cubans recruited to fight in Ukraine.
"That money ends up in the pockets of the Castro family," he asserted.
In one of the toughest moments of his address, he asked how it was possible for the country to lack fuel for hospitals while, he claimed, the Castro family has private planes, Rolex watches, Hermès ties, and hundreds of properties inside and outside of Cuba.
A lesser support for the regime
The General Assembly finally approved the debate with 136 votes in favor, nine against, and 30 abstentions, a support considerably lower than that received by Havana in the annual vote on the embargo held in October 2025, when it garnered 165 favorable votes, the worst result for the regime in over three decades.
Before concluding, Waltz delivered a direct message to the international community:
"Stand with the Cuban people, do not side with the regime that has broken this country. You cannot do both at the same time. The time has come to make a decision."
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