Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, Secretary General of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, responded directly to the attacks directed at him by Miguel Díaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, who labeled him as a "terrorist" and a "fraudster" following his participation in a forum on Cuba held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The trigger was the forum "Cuba Libre: The Oppression That Havana Hides," organized on Sunday by U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz, which also included former political prisoners José Daniel Ferrer and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, among others. Rodríguez Parrilla posted on X that Waltz had "introduced a well-known terrorist and fraudster to the United Nations," pointing out that Gutiérrez Boronat is listed among individuals linked to terrorism in Cuba and is "facing charges in Miami for misappropriating millions from the U.S. federal budget." The following day, Díaz-Canel dedicated a long segment of his radio program "Criterio Compartido" to attacking him, describing the forum as a "farce" with a "panel paid for by the State Department, made up of convicted criminals."
Gutiérrez Boronat firmly rejected the accusations: "I am neither a terrorist nor a fraudster. I am not a terrorist because I did not come to power by planting bombs in cinemas, parks, nightclubs, or by hijacking civilian planes, as was done on July 26."
The opposition leader also pointed directly at Díaz-Canel: "No one believes you anymore, neither inside Cuba nor outside of it, not even you yourselves. That's why Soberón's hands were shaking when he read a poorly delivered, nervous speech, because he knows that what he is reading is a lie."
Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, the permanent representative of the Cuban regime at the UN, also led a repudiation event in the organization's hallways against the forum participants, shouting "Terrorists!" and "Liars!"—something critics on social media referred to as "diplochusma."
Gutiérrez Boronat interpreted the virulence of the attacks as a sign of weakness of the regime: “The regime attacks us because we will never negotiate the freedom and democracy of the Cuban people.” He went further by directly addressing those who serve the dictatorship from within: “Desert, pass on information, sabotage the dictatorship. Do whatever you can from the inside to ensure that this regime collapses as soon as possible.”
The opposition leader also referred to the arrest warrant signed against Raúl Castro on October 16 by Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan, for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder linked to the downing of two planes belonging to Hermanos al Rescate in February 1996, in which four people died. "The criminals of the Gaesa corporation who have stolen Cuba's vital resources will pay," he warned.
The confrontation comes just days before the annual vote in the UN General Assembly on the Cuban resolution against the embargo, scheduled for October 27 and 28. International support for this resolution has been steadily declining: from 187 votes in 2024 to 165 in October 2025, and down to just 136 in the extraordinary session of July 2026, the lowest level in over a decade.
"Their time is running out," declared Gutiérrez Boronat.
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