The United States ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, challenged the Cuban regime on Tuesday during an extraordinary session of the General Assembly called by Havana to discuss the U.S. embargo, stating that the real blockade that Cubans suffer does not come from Washington, but from their own government.
"There has been much discussion about the blockade today, and indeed there is a blockade in front of all of us: the blockade that the Cuban regime ruthlessly imposes against its own people, decade after decade," declared the American diplomat before the gathered delegations in New York.
His intervention coincided with a new collapse of the electrical system in Cuba, the third nationwide incident so far in 2026, a situation that Waltz used to illustrate the crisis the country is facing.
"Sadly, Cuba is once again in the dark. There is a new blackout across the island," he stated. "But it always seems that there is light for the regime and for the dictatorship. Right now, there is electricity in the Castro family's complex; there, there is indeed light."
"How is there fuel for a private jet and not for a hospital?" Waltz asked, continuing to question the regime's priorities with a series of inquiries directed at the international community.
"How is it possible that there is no fuel for the hospitals, but there is for the Castro family's private jet? How can the president wear an Hermès tie, a Rolex watch, or write with a Montblanc pen while the people are starving?" he asked.
He also claimed that the Castro family owns 700 mansions spread across Cuba, the Costa del Sol in Spain, and Moscow.
"There is no U.S. blockade."
The ambassador rejected the official narrative regarding the embargo by pointing out that Cuba receives humanitarian assistance from Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Spain, Mexico, Russia, Uruguay, the European Union, and the United Nations itself.
He added that recently a tanker transported 750,000 barrels of oil to the island and that the United States provides over 100 million dollars annually in humanitarian aid, distributed in collaboration with the Vatican and the Catholic Church.
"There is no U.S. blockade. The only embargo is the guillotine that the regime has over the heads of its own citizens," he declared.
Before addressing the economic situation, Waltz dedicated part of his speech to the Cuban political prisoners.
He mentioned the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, whose five-year sentence ends on July 9; the musician Fernando Almadévez Rivera; the rapper Miguel "Osorbo" Castillo Pérez; the poet Duanes León Tovero, sentenced to 14 years in prison; and the brothers Jorge and Nadir Martín Perdomo, whose detention has been questioned by the United Nations.
"They are not violent. They do not carry weapons. What they bring are flowers, and they write poetry and songs," he stated.
Collision with Bruno Rodríguez
The speech was marked by two interruptions from the Cuban chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, who tried to halt the intervention through points of order.
In the first instance, he called Waltz a "liar" and maintained that the UN "is not a green beret camp." However, the presidency of the General Assembly dismissed both objections by recalling that Article 71 of the regulations prohibits using that mechanism to debate the content of a speech.
When he regained his composure, Waltz replied: "The truth hurts, and the truth is not a disrespect. I regret that you don't want to hear it."
The ambassador also accused GAESA, the business conglomerate controlled by the Armed Forces, of managing a trust fund of 18 billion dollars from which, he stated, "not a single cent reaches the Cuban people."
He also reported that the regime appropriates 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 stated.
Less international support
At the end of the session, the General Assembly approved holding a debate on the embargo with 136 votes in favor, nine against, and 30 abstentions, a significantly lower level of support compared to the 165 votes that Cuba received in the annual vote of October 2025.
Before concluding, Waltz sent 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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