UN Ambassador Mike Waltz Cut Off by Cuban Foreign Minister During Speech, But Then Hits Him With A Savage Comeback

United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz delivered a pointed message on Tuesday when a Cuban minister attempted to interrupt and shame him during remarks before the U.N. General Assembly. The exchange came as the body once again moved to condemn the United States over its embargo on communist Cuba — a regime long known for repression, economic collapse, and human rights abuses.

The vote — effectively a symbolic ritual carried out for 33 consecutive years, as reported by The New Republic — resulted on Wednesday in yet another condemnation: 165–7, with 12 abstentions.

Before the vote, Waltz addressed the Assembly and urged member states to look past the political theater and confront the reality of Cuba’s authoritarian leadership.

“Colleagues, let me suggest today that you do something different this year. The United States and the Trump administration wants to set the record straight when it comes to this resolution and to correct the fake news, the misinformation, and this false reality the regime seeks to create year after year with this vote,” Waltz said.

He continued, underscoring the brutal nature of Havana’s government:

“The facts are this is an illegitimate and brutal regime that seeks to cast itself as the victim of aggression while plainly describing itself as, quote, ‘the enemy of the United States.’”

Waltz detailed Cuba’s well-documented ties to terrorism, narcotics trafficking, criminal cartels, and the socialist dictatorship in Venezuela — a record that has destabilized the Western Hemisphere for decades.

That was when Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez attempted to shut him down with a procedural interruption, accusing Waltz of speaking in “an uncivilized, crude, and gross way that is not acceptable in this democratic forum.”

“Mr. Waltz, this is the United Nations General Assembly. It is not a Signal chat, nor is it the House of Representatives,” Rodriguez said, referencing Waltz’s earlier messaging mishap involving sensitive discussions with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and journalist Jeffrey Goldberg.

Waltz did not back down.

“I’m well aware of the location of which we’re speaking, and this is also not a communist illegitimate legislature in Havana. This is a place where we talk in facts, and the facts are the Cuban regime has undermined democracies in our hemisphere, it has oppressed its own people, and it steals from its own people so that, quote, ‘regime insiders’ can maintain their elite status.”

“I don’t need to say that on any type of chat. I’m saying that in front of the entire world.”

Rodriguez may have hoped to embarrass the U.S. representative — but instead only highlighted the hollowness of Cuba’s claim to moral authority.

For decades, Cuba has offered no genuine elections, no free press, no political opposition, and no pathway to prosperity. Millions of Cuban citizens have fled, with thousands risking death at sea just to reach the freedom and opportunity of the United States.

If Cuban officials are so deeply concerned about democratic norms, they could begin by establishing one in their own country.