The United States Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, criticized the cost of the extraordinary debate on the embargo against Cuba held at the United Nations General Assembly this Tuesday, stating that the six hours of session represented an expense of $168,000 which, in his opinion, would have been better spent addressing the needs of the Cuban people.
"With that money, thousands of Cuban children could have been fed instead of funding another propaganda show for the regime," Waltz stated in a message published on his X account after the day's activities concluded.
The session was called by the Cuban regime as an extraordinary debate, the second one dedicated to the embargo during the 80th session of the General Assembly, apart from the traditional annual vote scheduled for October. The United States opposed the holding of the debate from the very beginning.
U.S. criticism began even before the session kicked off. On Tuesday, Ambassador Jeffrey Bartos, U.S. Representative for UN Management and Reform, warned that the meeting would incur an estimated cost of $84,000, based on an estimated duration of three hours and an expenditure of $28,000 per hour.
"With the $84,000 that this three-hour meeting will cost, we could feed 3,500 Cuban children for a month, provide emergency health kits to 40,000 people for three months, or buy more than 1,600 solar lanterns for families that spend the night in darkness," he stated.
However, the debate lasted for about six hours, which caused Waltz to raise the total bill to $168,000.
Bartos also accused the regime of using the UN General Assembly as a propaganda platform instead of addressing the crisis facing the island.
"Havana is here to create content. And today it will do so not by helping Cubans or honestly highlighting their difficult situation, but by blaming the United States," he stated.
A speech focused on the Cuban crisis
During the debate on Tuesday, Waltz delivered a speech of about 16 minutes in which he rejected the regime's narrative regarding the embargo.
«There is no American blockade. The only embargo in Cuba is the guillotine that the regime holds over the heads of its people,» he stated before the Assembly.
The ambassador also linked the discussion at the UN with the energy crisis facing the island, which is affected by the third total collapse of the National Electric System so far in 2026 and the seventh in just 18 months.
"Sadly, Cuba is once again plunged into darkness. Yet, curiously, there always seems to be enough electricity for the regime. Right now, as I speak, there is power in the Castro family residences," he stated.
As part of his intervention, he displayed photographs of several Cuban political prisoners and named the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, the rapper Maykel "Osorbo" Castillo Pérez, and the poet Duanes León, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, among others. He then asked whether they also had access to electricity while the regime's representatives defended their position in New York.
Crossfire of accusations with Bruno Rodríguez
Waltz also accused the military conglomerate GAESA of managing a trust fund valued at 18 billion dollars without those resources benefiting the Cuban population.
He also reported that the regime withholds part of the salaries of doctors sent abroad and stated that thousands of Cubans have been sent to fight in Ukraine while their earnings are funneled into the hands of the State.
The Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, interrupted Waltz's speech with a point of order, the second motion raised during the interventions of the U.S. representatives. Just as had happened with Jeffrey Bartos, the presidency of the General Assembly denied the request, reminding that this mechanism cannot be used to challenge the content of a speech.
Waltz responded without altering his remarks. «The truth hurts, and the truth is not a disrespect», he stated.
The debate was made possible after the General Assembly approved its holding on Tuesday with 136 votes in favor, nine against, and 30 abstentions, a result lower than that obtained by Cuba in October 2025, when the annual resolution on the embargo received 165 favorable votes and recorded a significantly lower number of abstentions.
At the conclusion of his remarks, Waltz called on member states to support the Cuban people and not the regime.
"Be on the side of the Cuban people. Do not side with the regime that has destroyed this country. You cannot do both. The time has come to make a choice," he concluded.
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