Waltz Shouts Down Cuban Foreign Minister on UN General Assembly Floor

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz got into a shouting match with Cuba’s foreign minister on the floor of the General Assembly on Tuesday, after the Cuban official left his seat and walked up to the rostrum while Waltz was speaking, according to the New York Post and the Spanish news agency EFE.

The confrontation came during the General Assembly’s annual debate on a resolution calling for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba, EFE reported. The debate runs Tuesday and Wednesday, according to EFE.

Mike Waltz gets in shouting match with Cuban delegate at UN as American staffer assaulted https://t.co/YPh27FCmye pic.twitter.com/USAHn7gmiX

— New York Post (@nypost) October 27, 2026

Waltz had been detailing what he called the wealth of “corrupt Cuban elites,” the Post reported, at one point displaying a photo of the late dictator Fidel Castro wearing two Rolex watches. EFE reported that Waltz also accused Castro of sending thousands of gay people, Christians, Afro-Cubans and others to concentration camps.

That is when the Cuban delegation began banging on their tables and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla headed toward the rostrum shouting, according to EFE. Rodríguez demanded that General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman call Waltz to order, EFE reported.

“Back up!” Waltz shouted as Rodríguez approached, according to the Post. “He’s not going to intimidate me in the United States of America, like he tries to intimidate political prisoners,” Waltz said, in remarks captured on video by Post reporter Josh Christenson and posted on X.

Waltz then turned the interruption back on the regime. According to EFE, he told the chamber to imagine what happens when someone asks these questions in Havana instead of in a room full of ambassadors and cameras, if this is the kind of intimidation on display at the UN.

Anadolu Agency quoted Waltz telling the Cuban side, “This is America, my friend. This is the United Nations. This isn’t your communist dictatorship. You cannot silence me.” The UN president intervened to remind both sides of the assembly’s rules, Anadolu reported, and EFE said Rahman threatened to suspend the session before giving Rodríguez the floor.

Rodríguez accused Waltz of lying and of “offending the dignity of the people and government of Cuba,” according to Anadolu. EFE reported that Rodríguez also took a jab at Waltz, saying he wished him well in some other job.

The Post reported that it obtained video that appears to show a member of the Cuban delegation trying to grab the iPhone of Waltz spokesman J.P. Freire as Freire recorded the confrontation. Waltz addressed the incident in a post on X, saying one of the regime’s “diplomats” tried to intimidate UN staff into cutting his microphone and then tried to intimidate one of his staffers who noticed. Cuban officials had not publicly addressed that incident as of Tuesday afternoon.

On the substance, Waltz rejected Havana’s description of U.S. policy as a blockade. “There is no blockade,” he told delegates, according to Anadolu. “A blockade is a ring of military ships around an island. It doesn’t exist.” He said American companies exported more than $876 million in goods to Cuba in the first eight months of 2026, including $230 million in fuel for eligible private businesses, Anadolu reported.

The clash was not the first between the two delegations this month. Anadolu Agency published video dated Oct. 20 showing Cuba’s UN ambassador, Ernesto Soberón, and his delegation chanting loudly at Waltz and his team in a UN corridor.

The General Assembly is expected to vote on the embargo resolution after the debate concludes, according to EFE.

Sources

• New York Post
• EFE via Yahoo Noticias
• Anadolu Agency
• Ambassador Mike Waltz on X
• Josh Christenson on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.