A Cuban diplomat is getting kicked out of the United States after he shoved an American at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz broke the news on Fox News with Sean Hannity that same night, saying Secretary of State Marco Rubio had already signed the paperwork.
“He’s gone. He’s going to be on a plane to Havana within the next 24 hours. You lay a hand on an American here in the U.S., President Trump, Secretary Rubio and myself, we’re not gonna stand for it,” Waltz said. Strong words, and apparently they come with an airline ticket too.
Waltz did not name the diplomat, but the title he referenced, secretary of the Cuban delegation, appears to correspond to Richard Tur de la Concepción, identified as the “first secretary” of Cuba’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Waltz said de la Concepción “shoved and tried to assault” an American diplomat. Cuba’s regime, apparently unfamiliar with the concept of consequences, seems shocked this is happening. You can the UN General Assembly confrontation and see that nobody on the American side was confused about what went down.
The whole mess started when Waltz was delivering a speech about the Castro regime’s legacy, specifically that Fidel Castro sent “thousands of gay people, Christians, Afro-Cubans and others to concentration camps.” Apparently Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, did not enjoy hearing that. The Cuban delegation started pounding their table and demanding a point of order, because nothing says “we have no rebuttal” like banging on furniture.
Rodríguez then walked toward the podium while Waltz was still speaking. Waltz told him to back up, saying, “This individual needs to back away from this podium. He’s not going to intimidate me in the United States of America like he tries to intimidate political prisoners.” When a U.N. staffer pointed out that Rodríguez was Cuba’s foreign minister, Waltz pounded his fist on the podium and replied, “And I’m the representative for the United States of America. Back up.” Rodríguez shouted back, “You are a liar.” Real statecraft from a regime that’s been running a failed island prison for sixty years.
The de la Concepción situation unfolded separately. Waltz’s press secretary, J.P. Freire, was recording de la Concepción up close when the Cuban diplomat swatted Freire’s phone away. De la Concepción then complained to a security guard that Freire was “violating my personal space.” The Cuban Mission to the United Nations filed a complaint with the U.N. secretary-general accusing Freire of harassment, stalking, and invasion of personal space. A communist regime diplomat complaining about someone getting too close to him is, genuinely, one of the funnier things to happen at the U.N. in a while.
U.N. General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman tried to keep order during the Waltz-Rodríguez confrontation and ultimately suspended the meeting. Cuba’s mission is now asking the U.N. security department to take protective measures against Freire. Meanwhile, de la Concepción is packing his bags.
The expelled diplomat has 24 hours to get out, Rubio’s signature is already on the order, and the Trump administration has made clear it won’t be lectured about personal space by a government that has spent decades denying its own people any space at all.
