The incident occurred during the debate on Havana’s annual resolution against the embargo
14ymedio, Madrid, October 28, 2026 / The US Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, stated Tuesday on Fox News that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has signed the expulsion order for a Cuban diplomat. Although he did not cite his name, it is believed to be Richard Tur de la Concepción, who on three occasions slapped away a cell phone used by a member of the US delegation to record him during the debate on the annual resolution against the embargo presented by Havana at the UN General Assembly.
“Just before going on air tonight, Secretary Rubio signed the documents to expel the Cuban diplomat, the first secretary of his delegation, who pushed and attempted to assault one of our US diplomats,” Waltz said on Fox News. The incident occurred while the Cuban delegation, led by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, had moved to the podium to interrupt and confront the U.S. ambassador, following the method of repudiation used on the island against dissidents. [View the video here]
The ambassador stated that the Cuban “will be on a plane to Havana within the next 24 hours” and added: “If you lay a hand on an American here in the United States, President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and I will not allow it.”
Shortly before the incident, the Cuban delegation had denounced harassment against Tur de la Concepción in an official communication to the UN Secretary-General. The letter, signed by Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, accuses John P. Freire, a member of the US delegation, of engaging in “harassing, stalking, and invasion of personal space” toward the Cuban official, “who was recorded without his consent by the US representative, who approached him to within one meter to film him with his cell phone, with the clear purpose of provocation, even though the Cuban side’s objection to being recorded was repeatedly conveyed to the US representative.”
According to Soberón, who a few days earlier personally led another act of repudiation against Cuban dissidents inside the UN building in New York, the attitude of the US delegation is disrespectful, violates privacy and is incompatible “with the decorum and respect for personal dignity that should prevail in the United Nations premises.”
The document also elaborates that the events occurred within the framework of the annual session in which the resolution against the US embargo is voted on, which is part –they emphasize– “of the aggressive campaign orchestrated by the United States, in its eagerness to undermine the credibility of Cuba and another desperate attempt to divert attention from the broad support garnered by the condemnation of the blockade policy at the United Nations.”
The events took place on Tuesday during the tense debate session —prior to Wednesday’s vote—in which, during the US turn to speak, the Cuban delegation staged a loud protest against Waltz. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, accompanied by six officials, attempted to disrupt the speech by interrupting it with gestures, shouts, and banging on the tables.
In his speech, the US ambassador spoke of the repressive policies of Castroism since the 1960s and accused other members of the family and high-ranking officials of the regime of owning luxury items and living in privilege while the Cuban population suffers from scarcity and poverty.
Rodríguez requested the application of Article 71 of the General Assembly’s rules of procedure to vote against the American’s intervention, but he was reminded that this provision pertains to procedure, not substance. “The reality is that he doesn’t like the substance of what he’s hearing. He doesn’t like hard truths,” Waltz said.
The President of the General Assembly, Khalilur Rahman, had to intervene to restore order and warned that he could suspend the session. He eventually gave the floor to Rodríguez, who had to return to his seat. From there, he accused Waltz of “blatantly lying” and maintaining “an undignified attitude.”
This Wednesday at 10 a.m. – New York time – the session resumes, in which the remaining countries will speak before proceeding to the vote.
This Wednesday at 10 a.m. New York time, the session will resume, during which the remaining countries will speak before the vote, which will take place around the end of the morning or the beginning of the afternoon. In 2025, the resolution against the embargo garnered 165 votes in favor, seven against, and twelve abstentions—the worst result obtained by the island to date. However, this year’s result is expected to be even less favorable, after Washington urged many allied countries to join its position.
The situation is not entirely clear, however, since Chile, which has a pro-Washington president—the right-wing José Antonio Kast—has announced it will abstain. This decision has drawn strong criticism from the organization Cuba Archive, which accuses the government of being “timid” and exclaims: “With friends like these, who needs enemies!”
In its statement, Cuba Archive denounces what it considers an excessive presence of the regime in multilateral institutions and its “enormous apparatus of propaganda, influence and global expansion” and urges “Chile and the democracies of the world to begin by co-sponsoring the first United Nations resolution in support of the Cuban people and condemning the repressive regime of Cuba.”
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