UN Ambassador Mike Waltz speaks at the General Assembly about Cuba. Then a Cuban official walks toward him shouting: ‘You are a liar!’

U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz was delivering remarks at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday when the session turned into a direct confrontation, according to Mediaite. Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla rose from his seat on the floor and started shouting as he moved toward the podium. Waltz was criticizing Cuban leaders for enjoying luxury while ordinary citizens lived in poverty.

Video recorded by New York Post Washington D.C. Bureau Chief Josh Christenson captured the moment. It shows Waltz remaining at the microphone while Parrilla advances and continues to yell. The ambassador kept speaking through the interruption rather than stopping.

Waltz addressed the substance of the disruption in real time. He stated that the official did not like the substance of the remarks being made about Cuba.

Confrontation escalates as the Cuban official nears the podium

Waltz responded to the approach by speaking to Parrilla directly. “You can come and intimidate all you want,” he said. “I ask you to back away from this podium,” he added.

He then turned toward the president of the body, Khalilur Rahman, who was seated on a dais behind him. Waltz told him, “Mr. President, 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.”

Parrilla did not stop. Waltz raised his voice and declared, “And I’m the representative of the United States of America – back up!”

At that point Parrilla shouted, “You are a liar!” Waltz immediately replied, “Back up!” It was not the first time Cuban delegates visibly reacted in protest during a U.S. address at the UN.

Later, Waltz posted excerpts of his original speech on X. One post carried the line, “Cuba’s Communist leaders don’t want you to know about their luxury real estate portfolio, but we have the receipts,” paired with footage in which he discussed real estate holdings linked to some of Cuba’s leaders.

A second post featured video of the Cuban delegation. The caption read, “See the corrupt Cuban regime’s Rolex collection while their people sit in the dark.”

Waltz also shared a separate clip he described as showing a Cuban diplomat covering a phone that was recording the speech. He wrote, “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. When one of my American diplomats noticed what was happening, that same regime ‘diplomat’ tried to intimidate him, too.”

The exchange remained confined to the assembly floor and the podium area. Waltz’s subsequent posts on X returned to the content of his speech, focusing on luxury goods and living conditions rather than the interruption itself. Tense moments like this have surfaced before, such as when the US delegation stormed out of the assembly during Iran’s president’s address.