A routine United Nations debate over the US economic embargo on Cuba erupted into a shouting match Tuesday between US Ambassador Mike Waltz and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, the second heated public clash between the two in a month.
As Waltz spoke against the General Assembly's annual, non-binding resolution condemning the embargo and raised allegations of corruption within Cuba's government, Rodriguez walked down the aisle toward the body's presiding officer and shouted "You are a liar!" in Waltz's direction. Waltz shot back, "You understand who you're dealing with? This is America. Back up," and later told reporters that a Cuban diplomat had tried to get UN staff to cut his microphone — an accusation he repeated on social media, describing it as an attempt to intimidate UN staff.
The exchange echoed a similar clash between Waltz and his Cuban counterpart, Ernesto Soberon Guzman, outside a US-hosted panel featuring Cuban dissidents and former political prisoners roughly a week earlier, and a nearly identical insult Rodriguez leveled at Waltz during a July session, when he called Waltz a liar after the ambassador denied the existence of a US blockade on Cuba.
The General Assembly resolution, which passes annually with overwhelming international support and carries no binding force, has no power to lift the embargo — only the US Congress can do that. The theatrics nonetheless underscore how personal the dispute between the two governments has become, with Rodriguez previously mocking Waltz's background as a former Green Beret during their earlier exchange.