The United States is expelling a Cuban diplomat accused of shoving an American official during a heated confrontation on the floor of the United Nations General Assembly, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz announced on Tuesday night. The diplomat, Richard Tur de la Concepción, is to be put on a plane to Havana within 24 hours, Waltz said, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed the paperwork ordering his removal.
The clash erupted on Tuesday inside the General Assembly Hall in New York during the annual debate over the US economic embargo on Cuba. What began as a speech denouncing the Havana government turned into a shouting match, a suspended session, and — according to video shared by Waltz — a physical scuffle over a cellphone.
What Happened on the General Assembly Floor
According to reports, Waltz was delivering a speech accusing the Cuban government of profiting from the forced labor of its own citizens when members of the Cuban delegation objected. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno RodrÃguez Parrilla left his seat and approached the podium, prompting General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman to temporarily suspend the session and instruct delegates to return to their seats.
At the same time, video shared by Waltz appeared to show Tur de la Concepción, the First Secretary of Cuba's Permanent Mission to the UN, reaching toward the cellphone of US diplomat J.P. Freire, who was recording the confrontation. Tur de la Concepción wagged a finger at Freire and pushed the device away, accusing the American diplomat of violating his personal space, according to the reports.
Waltz said the Cuban delegation had also tried to intimidate UN staff into cutting off his microphone as he spoke. "One of the Cuban regime's 'diplomats' tried to intimidate UN staff into cutting our microphones as I exposed the regime for the world to see," Waltz wrote on X, alongside the video. "When one of my American diplomats noticed what was happening, that same regime 'diplomat' tried to intimidate him, too."
In his speech, Waltz held up a photograph purporting to show the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro wearing two Rolex watches, which he said were worth around $40,000 in today's currency. "According to the regime's own statistics, that would pay for 55 years of an average Cuban wage," Waltz said. He then showed a picture of Cuba's current president, Miguel DÃaz-Canel, also wearing a Rolex. "It didn't just start with Castro. This is the current Cuban president, also with a Rolex on," he said.
Waltz later wrote on X that the Cuban government had "profited at the expense of the Cuban people with luxury cars, expensive watches and a private island resort." He added: "As I shared this with the world, regime thugs rushed the stage to interrupt my speech. They can intimidate their own people in Cuba but think again about trying that nonsense in the United States of America."
"He's Gone": The Expulsion Announcement
Waltz announced the expulsion during an appearance on Fox News' "Hannity" on Tuesday night, saying Rubio had signed the expulsion paperwork just before he went on air.
"Just before I came on tonight, Secretary Rubio signed the paperwork to eject the diplomat that thought he could — the Cuban diplomat, the first secretary of their delegation — who shoved and tried to assault one of our American diplomats," Waltz said.
"He's gone. He's going to be on a plane to Havana within the next 24 hours," Waltz added. "You lay a hand on an American here in the United States, President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and myself — we're not going to stand for it."
Tur de la Concepción was identified by Cuban media and by an investigation from the outlet elTOQUE. He serves as First Secretary of Cuba's Permanent Mission to the UN, where he handles matters related to the Fifth Committee, which deals with the organization's budget and administration.
Waltz framed the episode as part of a broader campaign against what he called communist propaganda. He accused the Cuban delegation of trying to use the UN as a "propaganda platform to paint themselves as the victim" — just a day before the General Assembly votes on a resolution condemning the US embargo. "They spew lies, they spew propaganda," Waltz said. "They blame the blockade, which doesn't exist. By the way, that would be a ring of navy ships that doesn't allow anything in or out. It's an absolute lie."
Cuba Pushes Back: "Media Circus"
Havana has rejected Washington's account. RodrÃguez Parrilla accused Waltz of "arrogance and hubris" and said the United States was lying in a "crude and permanent manner." He described Waltz's speech as a "media circus" and said Washington had launched "a new desperate attempt to justify the economic aggression against Cuba and its criminal energy siege."
The Cuban foreign minister's response reflects a long-standing dispute over how to characterize the US embargo, which has been in place for more than six decades. The United States maintains that it enforces a trade embargo and targeted sanctions, not a physical naval blockade. Havana, by contrast, blames the embargo for the island's severe economic hardship, including fuel shortages and blackouts.
The annual General Assembly vote on Cuba's resolution against the embargo — a non-binding measure introduced every year since 1992 — was scheduled for Wednesday. The first vote took place in 1992, with 59 countries voting in favor. Last year, 165 countries supported the motion, its weakest outcome in two decades, compared with 187 in 2024.
A Month of Rising Tensions at the UN
Tuesday's confrontation did not come out of nowhere. Tensions between the two delegations have been building throughout October, according to reports.
On October 19, Cuban diplomats led by Permanent Representative Ernesto Soberón Guzmán staged a protest at the UN against former political prisoners José Daniel Ferrer and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, shouting "terrorists," "liars," and "get out of the UN" during a forum organized by the US mission.
The friction also follows a separate escalation days earlier, when Rubio publicly urged Cubans seeking change to pursue a discreet partnership with the CIA, and President Donald Trump told a rally in Florida
that the US would "take care of Cuba." Tuesday's clash has now added a physical confrontation — and an expulsion — to the standoff.
What This Means
The expulsion sends an unmistakable message from the Trump administration: physical confrontations with American officials on US soil, even inside the halls of the United Nations, will be met with swift removal rather than a quiet diplomatic note.
For the administration, the episode also serves a political purpose. By turning a procedural embargo debate into a vivid confrontation — complete with Rolex photographs and a televised expulsion announcement — Waltz has reframed a yearly UN ritual, in which the US is routinely outvoted, as a story about alleged Cuban intimidation and corruption.
For Cuba, the expulsion is both a humiliation and an opportunity. Havana has long used the annual embargo vote to rally international sympathy, and the image of a Cuban diplomat being ejected from the United States may sharpen its argument that Washington acts with hostility rather than diplomacy. At the same time, the physical nature of the incident — captured on video and broadcast worldwide — makes it harder for Havana to keep the focus solely on the embargo itself.
What Happens Next
According to Waltz, Tur de la Concepción will be on a plane to Havana within 24 hours of Tuesday night's announcement. The first thing to watch is whether that timeline holds — and whether Havana responds with a reciprocal move against American diplomats or with a formal protest at the UN.
The second immediate test comes on Wednesday, when the General Assembly votes on the resolution condemning the US embargo. The vote is non-binding, but its margin will be read as a barometer of international sentiment: a further drop from last year's 165 votes in favor would suggest Havana's support is continuing to erode, while a rebound would signal that the confrontation has rallied sympathy for Cuba.
Longer term, the question is whether Tuesday's clash marks a peak or a new baseline for US-Cuba confrontations at the UN. For now, one fact is clear: a routine embargo debate ended with a Cuban diplomat being ordered out of the United States — and with both sides accusing the other of lying to the world.
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