Cuban diplomat Richard Tur de la Concepción expressed his gratitude for the support received upon his return to Havana after being expelled from the United States due to the incident at the United Nations. He thanked the welcome organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba (MINREX) and issued a message against what he referred to as "Yankee arrogance."
"Thank you very much to the leadership of MINREX, to my colleagues at the Ministry, and to the many people who have shown me various gestures of affection in recent days," wrote Tur from his X account, @ricktur_2013.
The official concluded his message with a defiant statement: "Cuba will prevail over Yankee arrogance and anyone who seeks to intimidate us. A big hug."
The response appeared under a post by the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gerardo Peñalver Portal, who shared photographs of the welcome organized for Tur at the José Martí International Airport in Havana.
«We received in the homeland the young diplomat from @CubaMINREX, Richard Tur, who faced the disrespectful and provocative attitude of the U.S. delegation at @ONU_es with dignity and firmness,» wrote Peñalver Portal.
In the photographs shared by the deputy minister, Tur is seen accompanied by several officials from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who posed with a national flag in front of the "Welcome to Cuba" sign at the Havana airport. The Union of Young Communists from Minrex also reported on the arrival.
The official welcome for the expelled diplomat contrasts with Washington's version of the events that took place on Tuesday, October 27, at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
During a confrontation related to the debate over the U.S. embargo on Cuba, Tur attempted to snatch the phone from J. P. Freire, head of Strategic Communications for the U.S. mission, and made several swipes at him while he recorded the incident.
The images were subsequently released by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz.
Following the incident, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the expulsion of Tur, a measure that Washington justified due to the behavior of the Cuban official.
The State Department confirmed on Thursday that the diplomat had left U.S. territory.
Cuban authorities, for their part, defended their actions and accused the American delegation of orchestrating a provocation to undermine the annual vote against the embargo and Tur's candidacy for the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions of the UN (ACABQ).
Additionally, the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FHRC) included the diplomat in its list of Cuban repressors following the altercation.
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