Miguel Díaz-Canel celebrated on Facebook this Tuesday what he described as overwhelming support from the international community for Cuba during the debate at the UN General Assembly regarding the U.S. embargo, ignoring the embarrassing episode led by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla on the same stage.
"Today at the UN, the overwhelming support of the international community for Cuba was evident in the condemnation of the blockade and against the policy of maximum suffocation by the U.S. government," said Díaz-Canel. The leader asserted that the U.S. representative found himself "in evident isolation."
What Díaz-Canel omitted in his message was the incident involving his own chancellor during the debate: Rodríguez interrupted the speech of the U.S. ambassador Mike Waltz, approached the podium alongside other members of the Cuban delegation, presented at least three motions that were rejected, and caused a suspension of the session ordered by the president of the General Assembly, Khalilur Rahman.
Rodríguez referred to Waltz's intervention as a "media circus" and shared a video of the altercation on X, presenting it as a response to the "lies" from the United States, although international media outlets such as EFE, Bloomberg Línea, and La Nación described the episode as a chaotic and unusually confrontational confrontation.
Waltz, for his part, denied that a strict embargo exists, arguing that this would imply "a blockade of military ships around an island," and urged member states to reject the Cuban resolution, warning that voting in favor would equate to contributing to the "mistreatment of the Cuban people."
Díaz-Canel, without mentioning the incident, closed his post with the phrase "Cuba is not a threat, the embargo is," accusing Washington of maintaining a "criminal energy blockade" against the island and pressuring sovereign nations to change their stance.
The reaction of Cubans in the comments on that same post was largely sarcastic and critical. "So the problem is solved, tomorrow we have a new Cuba," wrote a user sarcastically.
Others were more direct: "Stop killing your people [...] you eat meat while your people eat tortillas with oil," one commentator demanded, while a third insisted on "free elections for Cuba."
This is the 34th time that Cuba has presented the resolution calling for an end to the embargo at the UN, since it began doing so in 1992, and international support has shown a decreasing trend: from 187 votes in favor in 2024, it fell to 165 in 2025, the lowest level in more than three decades, with seven votes against and 12 abstentions.
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