The comedian Ulises Toirac once again took aim at the performance of the Cuban delegation at the UN General Assembly, this time supporting his reflection on Facebook with the definition of the word "diplomatic," as if holding up a mirror to those who should embody this concept.
"It is always good to take the machete to cut down the weeds that may exist in the moropo," Toirac wrote, before methodically dismantling the official narrative that portrayed the aggressive behavior of the Cuban representatives as a "resounding response."
The trigger was the chaotic episode on October 27 during the General Assembly, when the chancellor Bruno Rodríguez and the rest of the Cuban delegation got up from their seats and physically advanced toward the podium where the American ambassador Michael Waltz was speaking, which forced the Assembly President, Khalilur Rahman, to suspend the session and instruct Rodríguez to return to his place.
The comedian questioned the idea that aggression equates to firmness: "In international organizations, actions are not taken impulsively. Firmness and principles have nothing to do with violence to support them."
He also mocked those who see heroism in the scene: "I apologize to those who find something heroic in a United Nations hall where not a single shot is fired and—as far as I know—no one has hit another person."
In his speech at the General Assembly, Waltz presented to the delegates photos of Fidel Castro's Rolex watches valued at $40,000, images of the Castro family's properties—a 14,000 m² beachfront retreat in Varadero and the private island Cayo Piedra with a floating restaurant and dolphin lagoon—and cited a report from the Miami Herald attributing $18 billion in profits and $14 billion in secret accounts to the military conglomerate GAESA.
Bruno Rodríguez's response was to tell Waltz, "You are lying again."
And Toirac also dismantled this with his analysis: "It is not definitive to say that the opponent is lying. What would be definitive is to provide evidence that disproves what the opponent presents."
He added: "We must say what was responded to. Not to 'imperial lies', but which ones."
The comedian extends his critique to the attitude of his fellow countrymen on the Internet, something he considers to be the "sinister" aspect of the matter: "the same people who criticize it behave like this daily right here on social media: it has become normalized among Cubans that being 'combative' entails aggressive behavior and intolerance."
This is Toirac's second public intervention regarding the same episode. On Thursday, he coined the term "diplochancleta" in a video that garnered over 87,000 views, where he summarized the scandal with a phrase: "Generally when violence is resorted to, it is because there are no arguments".
The incident had concrete consequences: Richard Tur de la Concepción, the first secretary of the Cuban mission to the UN, attempted to snatch the phone from Waltz's spokesperson and swatted at him while he was recording the confrontation.
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed the expulsion order that same night, and Tur left the country days later. The First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gerardo Peñalver Portal, received him at José Martí Airport in Havana, where Tur expressed gratitude for the support from MINREX and denounced the "Yankee arrogance."
While the regime celebrated the "firm stance" of its delegation, the annual resolution against the embargo was approved with just 130 votes in favor —the lowest result in approximately two decades— with 17 votes against and 25 abstentions.
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