Richard Tur de la Concepción, the first secretary of the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the UN in New York, was added to the list of Cuban Repressors maintained by the Cuba Human Rights Foundation (FHRC), one day after assaulting a U.S. official inside the United Nations building.
Luis Domínguez from the FHRC confirmed to Martí Noticias that Tur's name had been included in that database, which documents individuals identified for acts of repression and human rights violations related to the Cuban regime.
The incident that triggered the measure occurred on Tuesday during the annual General Assembly debate on the U.S. embargo against Cuba: Tur swatted at J. P. Freire, spokesman for U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz, and attempted to grab the phone with which he was filming the protests of the Cuban delegation.
According to Martí Noticias and the FHRC, Tur comes from a family with several generations within the Cuban diplomatic-intelligence apparatus. His father, Ricardo Tur Novo, is identified by the FHRC and family members as an officer of the MII Intelligence Department, which operated in Latin America and the Caribbean under diplomatic cover in Bolivia, Paraguay, and Jamaica. Domínguez revealed that his alias in intelligence was “Roger,” the name of one of his sons.
A close relative stated to Martí Noticias: "His family always traveled. Ricardo Tur worked in the State Security building located at Línea and A, in Vedado. They would return loaded from those trips. In fact, when the boys were little, they didn't even like the local sodas because they were used to Coca Cola."
Richard, born in Havana on August 31, 1993, studied at the Lenin School and at the Raúl Roa García Higher Institute of International Relations (ISRI). He worked in the Multilateral Affairs Directorate of MINREX from 2017 to 2021 and joined the UN that same year as a second secretary before advancing to first secretary in January 2024.
His wife, Dalia Marlen Torres Seara, is listed as the second secretary of the same Cuban mission to the UN, according to documents from the UNICEF Executive Board. His brother Dany Tur de la Concepción is mentioned as a counselor at the Embassy of Cuba in Canada in the official directory of the Government of Quebec, updated just days before the incident.
Domínguez summarized the family dynamics with a straightforward phrase: "You are the elite because you protect each other for your own benefits."
Mike Waltz reported that the official attempted to pressure United Nations staff to cut off the microphones of the U.S. delegation, which he believed violated the host country agreement that governs the presence of diplomatic missions at the UN.
Washington's response was immediate: the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, signed the documents to expel Tur from the country, and Waltz announced on Tuesday night on Fox News that the diplomat "would be on a plane to Havana within the next 24 hours."
The Cuban regime presented an opposing version. In a letter dated Tuesday and released this Wednesday, Cuban ambassador Ernesto Soberón accused Freire of harassing Tur and of continuing to record him despite his objections, and requested the intervention of the UN's security and legal affairs offices.
The scandal hits Tur at a particularly delicate moment: Cuba had nominated him as a candidate for the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions of the UN (ACABQ) for the period 2027-2029, with elections scheduled for November 2026. At the time of closing this note, the withdrawal of that candidacy had not been confirmed.
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