The United States Ambassador to the UN, Michael Waltz, launched an unprecedented offensive against the Cuban nomenclature before the General Assembly this Tuesday: he presented photographs, financial data, and visual evidence of the privileges of the regime's elite —Rolex watches, Hermès ties, mansions, yachts, and private islands— while urging member countries to reject the annual resolution calling for the end of the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
The intervention, recorded at the 27th plenary session of the 81st General Assembly, resulted in one of the most chaotic episodes in the recent history of the organization: the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and other members of the delegation physically advanced towards the podium where Waltz was speaking, forcing the Assembly President, Khalilur Rahman, to temporarily suspend the session.
Waltz began his remarks by recalling that Fidel Castro's two Rolex watches, valued at 40,000 dollars, equate—according to the regime's own statistics—to 55 years of the average Cuban salary. He pointed out that the current president of Cuba also wears luxury watches, Hermès ties, and Montblanc pens.
The diplomat showcased images of the Castro family's beach retreat in Varadero: 14,000 square meters of properties featuring pools, marble floors, sauna, jacuzzi, and cedar wood imported from the Amazon rainforest.
It went further by revealing that the Castro family owns the private island Cayo Piedra, south of Cuba, featuring a dock, a floating restaurant, luxury accommodations for guests, and a lagoon for dolphins, in addition to another island with exotic animals and safaris.
Waltz also showcased images of a 50-meter-long yacht sailing in the Mediterranean, which requires 15,000 gallons of fuel to fill up, and contrasted this fact with the regime's inability to supply gasoline to ambulances and buses.
"In some way, this blockade —in quotes— that doesn't exist, doesn't apply to luxury goods. Somehow, these items reach the elites of the Cuban regime," the ambassador stated.
The diplomat also cited a Miami Herald investigation that revealed that GAESA, the Cuban government's military conglomerate, has accumulated 18 billion dollars in liquid assets and 14 billion in cash in secret accounts: enough to pay two years' worth of salaries in Cuba, replenish all pharmacies for four decades, or buy 9 billion sacks of rice.
"Things don't just disappear. They were stolen. The doctors' salaries, the medicines, the fuel: everything has been stolen," Waltz declared before the delegates.
The Cuban delegation interrupted the speech at least three times with points of order backed by Article 71 of the Assembly's regulations. On all occasions, the presidency rejected the objections and returned the floor to Waltz. Rodríguez Parrilla even called the U.S. ambassador a "liar" and said to him, "Your performance is very poor. Get better informed."
Waltz responded firmly: "Mr. Chancellor, this is how this will be done: every time you interrupt me, I will continue to explain just how corrupt this regime is, and I will do it more slowly."
The ambassador also denounced that the Cuban delegation attempted to intimidate political prisoners who participated the week prior in the forum "Cuba Libre" organized by the Permanent Mission of the U.S. at the UN headquarters, where José Daniel Ferrer —more than 12 years in prison— and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who served five years for writing a song, were present.
"Colleagues, these bullies are asking for your vote. Do not give Havana another propaganda victory. Do not vote for the mistreatment of the people of Cuba," concluded Waltz.
International support for the Cuban resolution has dropped from 187 votes in 2024 to 136 in the extraordinary session of July 2026, the lowest level in over a decade. The final vote on the resolution was scheduled for this Wednesday.
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