US Ambassador Mike Waltz, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Trade Barbs At UN Assembly

A heated exchange between US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla briefly halted UN General Assembly debate on Tuesday over a resolution calling for an end to the US embargo on Cuba.

During the UN’s annual debate on the US embargo against Cuba, Mike Waltz took the floor and delivered a speech criticising the Cuban government.

As he continued speaking, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and other members of Cuba’s delegation began shouting objections from their seats.

Waltz used his entire speech on Tuesday to attack Cuba’s government, accusing its leaders of corruption. He said they enjoyed private islands and expensive Rolex watches while blaming them for the country’s problems, even as the US continues to block fuel supplies from reaching the island.

The exchange continued as Waltz accused Cuba of trying to silence him and his colleagues. “This is America, this is the United Nations, this isn't your communist dictatorship. You can't silence me or you cannot silence my colleagues!” he said.

“You are a liar!” Parrilla responded.

Cuban Foreign Minister Challenges Waltz At UN Podium

Rodríguez Parrilla walked towards the front of the hall, though his remarks could not be clearly heard on the UN’s livestream. The assembly president, Khalilur Rahman, suspended the meeting before allowing the Cuban foreign minister to raise a point of order.

Returning to his seat, Rodríguez Parrilla used the opportunity to challenge Waltz’s remarks, accusing the US ambassador of “grossly lying.”

After the incident, Rodríguez Parrilla criticised Waltz in a post on X, writing that he “with his arrogance and hubris, forgets that he is at the United Nations, not at the US National Security Council, nor in a Green Berets unit, nor in a Signal group, where he has repeatedly shown his incompetence and incapacity.”

Waltz, a former Green Beret, faced scrutiny last year when he was serving as US national security adviser. He accidentally added a journalist to a Signal chat that included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and other senior national security officials. The group was discussing details of US strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels.