A Cuban diplomat involved in a heated confrontation with US Ambassador Mike Waltz at the United Nations is set to be expelled from the United States.
The clash unfolded on Tuesday between Waltz and members of Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla’s delegation after the US ambassador accused “corrupt Cuban elites” of profiting while ordinary citizens struggle.
The dispute turned physical when Cuban delegate Richard Tur de la Concepcion lunged at Waltz’s spokesman, JP Freire, and tried to seize the iPhone Freire was using to record the exchange.
Later Tuesday evening, Waltz told Fox News that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had signed the paperwork authorizing Tur de la Concepcion’s expulsion from the US.
‘He’s gone. He is going to be on a plane to Havana within the next 24 hours,’ Waltz said on the network.
The US ambassador accused Tur de la Concepcion of shoving and attempting to assault “one of our American diplomats.”
‘You lay a hand on an American here in the United States, President Trump, Secretary Rubio and myself, we’re not gonna stand for it,’ Waltz said.
The confrontation at the UN began after Waltz displayed a photograph of late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro wearing two Rolex watches reportedly worth about $40,000. He then showed the assembly a photograph of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
US Ambassador Mike Waltz said a Cuban diplomat accused of assaulting an American diplomat will be expelled from the US
Waltz said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had signed paperwork to remove Cuban delegate Richard Tur de la Concepcion from the country
The announcement followed a confrontation at the United Nations on Tuesday between Waltz and members of Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla’s team
Rodriguez Parrilla approached the podium aggressively and called Waltz a liar after the US ambassador accused “corrupt Cuban elites”
‘According to the regime’s own statistics, that would pay for 55 years of an average Cuban wage,’ the US ambassador said. ‘It didn’t just start with Castro. This is the current Cuban President, also with a Rolex on.’
Rodriguez Parrilla then moved forcefully toward the podium and accused Waltz of lying.
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The US envoy immediately responded: ‘Back up!’
Turning to the visibly stunned assembly, Waltz continued, ‘He doesn’t like hard truths. You can come and intimidate all you want.’
Waltz said Parrilla would not “intimidate him” in the United States, “like he tries to intimidate political prisoners.”
Video later captured Tur de la Concepcion reaching for Freire’s phone during the altercation.
Freire told Our News Outlet that the delegate who confronted him physically had used “the same intimidation” against clerks to cut off Waltz’s microphone during a previous incident.
Waltz’s spokesman added, ‘Under the Castro’s communist regime, it’s always the regime’s turn.’
Waltz seen telling in a heated exchange at the UN
The spectacle on the diplomatic stage comes against the backdrop of rapidly deteriorating relations between Washington and Havana
Cuban Embassy diplomat David Ramirez Alvarez posted on X after the exchange, saying Waltz is a ‘disgrace to what it means to be a diplomat.’
‘The man talk, walks and acts like a character from the film Idiocracy,’ Alvarez posted. ‘Cuba will not stay idly as this person eviscerates the principles of the United Nations.’
The spectacle on the diplomatic stage comes against the backdrop of rapidly deteriorating relations between Washington and Havana, as the Trump administration dramatically ratchets up pressure on the communist-run island nation.
President Trump has openly toyed with the idea of American military intervention, repeatedly warning Havana that its dictatorship is living on borrowed time.
At a recent Florida rally, Trump openly taunted the Cuban regime, musing that American naval vessels returning from regional deployments could simply pull up to the island’s shores.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
