US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz shouted down Cuba’s foreign minister during a heated floor confrontation at the General Assembly.
Waltz, 51, was addressing delegates Tuesday about the Communist regime’s extensive Manhattan real estate portfolio when Bruno RodrÃguez Parrilla, 66, stormed toward the rostrum and accused him of lying. The Florida congressman-turned-diplomat immediately fired back at the advancing Cuban official.
“Back up!” Waltz yelled at Parrilla as the foreign minister closed in during the mid-speech interruption.
“He’s not going to intimidate me in the United States of America — like he tries to intimidate political prisoners,” Waltz said, raising his voice while UN officials rushed to separate the two men and restore order in the chamber.
The clash unfolded as members of the Cuban delegation recorded their own videos of Parrilla’s approach, capturing the incident from multiple angles alongside American staffers who were also filming.
J.P. Freire, a spokesman for Waltz, was among those documenting the confrontation on his iPhone when a separate member of the Cuban delegation allegedly assaulted him. The unidentified Cuban official attempted to grab Freire’s phone as he recorded, according to video obtained by The Post.
The property holdings Waltz was detailing at the time of the interruption have long drawn scrutiny from critics of the Havana government. The regime maintains valuable commercial and residential real estate in New York despite decades of economic sanctions and strained diplomatic relations with Washington.
Parrilla’s decision to charge the podium marked an unusual breach of protocol even by the contentious standards of UN General Assembly sessions, where delegates typically confine objections to formal responses or quiet diplomatic notes.
Waltz, a former Army National Guard Green Beret who represented Florida’s 6th congressional district before his UN appointment, has taken an aggressive posture toward authoritarian regimes since arriving at the international body earlier this year. His confrontation with Parrilla extended that approach into a direct physical-space standoff rarely seen in the formal setting of the General Assembly hall.
The assault on Freire added a secondary flashpoint to an already volatile encounter between representatives of two nations whose diplomatic ties have remained frozen at various levels across multiple administrations. Cuban officials have not issued a statement addressing either Parrilla’s approach to the rostrum or the physical altercation involving the American staffer’s phone.
UN officials who intervened during the shouting match succeeded in preventing any physical contact between Waltz and Parrilla, though the episode left the chamber in temporary disarray as the scheduled proceedings halted.
Waltz assumed his post as US ambassador following his January confirmation, bringing a confrontational style that has now produced one of the most dramatic public clashes between American and Cuban officials in recent years at the United Nations headquarters.
The General Assembly is scheduled to continue its spring session Wednesday with additional member-state addresses.