The United States has expelled a Cuban diplomat from the United Nations after a verbal clash between Ambassador Mike Waltz and Cuba’s foreign minister, according to the Associated Press and US officials. Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed paperwork to expel Richard Tur de la Concepcion, first secretary of Cuba’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, after he allegedly shoved and tried to assault a member of the US delegation during the General Assembly debate on October 27, according to Waltz. “He’s gone. He’s going to be on a plane to Havana within the next 24 hours,” Waltz said on Fox News’ Hannity.
What happened on the General Assembly floor
Waltz took to the podium on October 27 to speak against the annual resolution condemning the US economic embargo on Cuba, accusing Cuba’s socialist government of corruption, according to AP reporting. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla and members of the Cuban delegation interrupted, banging on desks and calling for points of order, and the session was briefly suspended. Waltz showed a black-and-white photograph of Fidel Castro wearing a Rolex watch, which he used to accuse the leadership of luxury and corruption, according to Particle News. Cuban officials have denied the US account, publicly condemned Waltz and called his claims false, according to the same report. A State Department spokesperson told CNN Washington “has made it clear to the Cuban mission that this person is not welcome in the United States.”
A decades-old standoff
The incident comes ahead of the annual General Assembly vote on the embargo, which has stood since 1962. Members condemned the embargo 59 to 3 in 1992, with 71 abstentions, and 187 to 2 in 2024, according to The Gist. The Helms-Burton Act of 1996 wrote the embargo into US law, so only Congress can lift it. Havana is expected to cast the expulsion as harassment of its New York mission before the next vote, according to The Gist, and the move could prompt reciprocal diplomatic steps. No injuries or police reports appear in the available accounts, according to the American Almanac’s summary.
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