Sparks flew at the United Nations General Assembly after a shouting match erupted between U.S. UN Ambassador Mike Waltz and Cuba’s representative.
Waltz was at the podium on Tuesday, talking about how Cuban government officials live in the lap of luxury while their people live in poverty, struggling even to keep the lights on.
Suddenly, Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla jumped up and began approaching the podium, yelling Waltz is “a liar.”
Tensions boiled over as the U.N. was getting ready to vote on whether to condemn the U.S. over one of the longest trade and economic embargoes in the last half century, according to The New Republic.
The U.S. first imposed an arms embargo on Cuba in 1958. Then, in 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower imposed an economic embargo that stopped all exports to the Communist island nation except for food and medicine.
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By 1962, President John F. Kennedy expanded the embargo into a comprehensive trade embargo.
In 1992, Congress tightened restrictions through the Cuban Democracy Act.
The UN General Assembly has voted every year to condemn the embargo and renew calls for it to end. Such was the situation Tuesday as Waltz tried to appeal to other nations not to vote in favor of the measure.
Waltz called the Cuban government corrupt and noted that the country’s leaders have a private island and Rolex collections. He blamed Cuban officials for the desperate condition in the country, even as the Trump administration continues to ban gas and oil from reaching Cuba, TNR reported.
Parilla shouted to General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman that Waltz had violated the Assembly’s procedural rules, specifically Rule 71. The rule says, “A representative may rise to a point of order, and the point of order shall be immediately decided by the President in accordance with the rules of procedure.”
As Parilla advanced toward the podium, Waltz spoke over him, saying, “You can come and intimidate all you want.” He then demanded, “I ask you to back away from this podium.”
Waltz continued, maintaining that Parilla just didn’t “like” what he was saying.
“He doesn’t like the hard truths,” Waltz accused. “You can come and intimidate all you want; I ask you to back away from this podium.”
Tempers flared as Waltz turned to Rahman.
“Mr. President, this individual needs to back away from this podium; he’s not going to intimidate me in the United States of America like he tries to do to political prisoners. I’m the representative of the United States of America; back up,” Waltz yelled.
Parilla fired back, “You’re a liar.”
An angry Waltz shouted, “Back away … Do you understand who you’re dealing with?”
Parilla continued accusing Waltz of lying. Rahman then suspended the meeting.
Social media quickly weighed in, accusing the U.S. of “entitled behavior” and condemning the Trump administration for its ongoing fuel blockade.
“This is exactly why America is the laughing stock of the world right now!” an X commenter stated.
Others piled on. “Wow, what an ugly display of entitled behavior. America at its worst while they’re holding Cuba to ransom.”
This commenter summed it up this way, “What an arrogant, ignorant man. America, you should be ashamed that this POS represents you.”
Former President Barack Obama walked back some restrictions on Cuba during his two terms as president, but Trump reimplemented all of them and then some.
The fuel ban alone is causing mass hardships on the Communist-ruled island just 90 miles south of Florida. It has led to mass blackouts, water and food shortfalls, and a shortage of life-saving medicine. While Trump has doubled down, insisting the ban is targeting the Communist regime, Cubans are fleeing the country en masse, trying to escape the growing hardships the sanctions are causing.
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