U.S. envoy Waltz says Cuba blockade 'does not exist' at UN

Discussion of the U.S. embargo against Cuba at the UN General Assembly escalated into a verbal exchange between U.S. Permanent Representative Mike Waltz and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.

U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN Mike Waltz said at the General Assembly on Tuesday that no blockade of Cuba exists. “A blockade is a ring of warships around an island. It does not exist,” he said during a discussion of the U.S. embargo.

About two and a half minutes after he began speaking, the Cuban delegation began shouting and banging on the desks. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla approached the podium to raise a point of order, and the presiding officer briefly suspended the session.

“Step aside, ambassador. This is not Havana. This is the United Nations, not your communist dictatorship,” Waltz said. Rodríguez interrupted him several times, accusing him of “blatant lies” and insulting the “dignity of the Cuban people and government.”

A non-binding Cuban resolution calling for the embargo to be lifted will be put to a vote on Wednesday. Cuba is introducing it in the General Assembly for the 34th time since 1992; last year, 165 states supported the document, 7 opposed it and 12 abstained.