U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said a confrontation with Cuban officials at the United Nations nearly turned physical, alleging that one Cuban diplomat shoved a member of his staff and slapped a phone out of his hand before being sent back to Cuba on a one-way flight.
“I really thought it was about to go down,” Waltz said on “The Sunday Briefing,” crediting Secretary of State Marco Rubio with the decision to expel the diplomat.
“The guy that we actually put on a one-way flight back to his crumbling country shoved one of my staff, slapped the phone out of his hand, was trying to bully the U.N. staff into cutting my microphone. Then, their foreign minister gets up out of his chair and rushes the podium.”
The confrontation began during a speech Waltz delivered on the floor of the U.N. General Assembly accusing Cuba’s government of enriching its leaders while its people went without. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla then approached the podium and attempted to interrupt him.
“If they’ll do that on the floor of the U.N. in front of diplomats, in front of the world, imagine what they do to these the poor Cuban people behind closed doors,” Waltz said.
He said he had been holding up photographs during his remarks, including images of the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s private island and luxury jet, along with Rolex watches, lavish vacations and yachts tied to current regime leaders.
“They use the U.N., they try to use it to further their propaganda and blame us. We’re not going to have it, and we smacked it down, almost literally,” Waltz said.
To support his claims, Waltz cited a 100-page report from Rubio’s office titled “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” which accuses the Cuban government of running espionage and influence operations inside the United States.
Waltz said the Cuban regime “has been exporting communism, their Marxist ideology, through leftist groups and current politicians right here in the United States,” and linked much of the domestic unrest in the U.S. to what he described as “67 years of putting up with Havana.”
He closed with a prediction about Cuba’s political future. “I think the Cuban people will see freedom on President Trump’s watch, and I’ll just leave it at that,” Waltz said.
