But on Tuesday, Waltz was not there to play nice. He made it clear the U.S. wasn’t going to sit quietly while dictators pretended to be victims.
“The facts are this is an illegitimate and brutal regime that seeks to cast itself as the victim of aggression while plainly describing itself as, quote, ‘the enemy of the United States,’” Waltz declared.
The ambassador then ticked off a list of Cuba’s ongoing abuses — from supporting terrorism and drug cartels to propping up Venezuela’s socialist dictatorship.
That’s when Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez cut in with a point of order, accusing Waltz of lying and breaking diplomatic decorum.
Rodriguez fumed:
“Mr. Waltz, this is the United Nations General Assembly. It is not a Signal chat, nor is it the House of Representatives.”
The jab referenced an earlier incident where Waltz reportedly included a journalist in a private Signal conversation about national security — a minor gaffe the Cuban official tried to weaponize on the world stage.
But Waltz wasn’t rattled. He fired back with a comeback that instantly silenced the chamber.
“I’m well aware of the location of which we’re speaking, and this is also not a communist illegitimate legislature in Havana. This is a place where we talk in facts, and the facts are the Cuban regime has undermined democracies in our hemisphere, it has oppressed its own people, and it steals from its own people so that, quote, ‘regime insiders’ can maintain their elite status.”
❗️U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz is interrupted ~ half way through his speech ~ by a point of order by Cuba.
Waltz' conclusion: "Let's send a message today, colleagues, in keeping, as the Cuban delegation has just said, in keeping with the history of this body, in line… https://t.co/RpQvPutwHepic.twitter.com/8BGSnWvfiG
— Pamela Falk Correspondent United Nations (@PamelaFalk) October 28, 2025
It was a knockout blow — a verbal gut punch that left Rodriguez and the Cuban delegation with nowhere to hide.
The irony wasn’t lost on observers: a Cuban official lecturing anyone about “democratic decorum” while representing one of the most oppressive regimes in the Western Hemisphere.
Cuba, where elections are a farce and dissenters vanish into prisons, has no moral authority to scold a U.S. official about democracy. The contrast couldn’t have been sharper — a free American standing for truth versus a regime mouthpiece defending dictatorship.
If Rodriguez truly cares about “representative government,” as he claimed, he might start by allowing his own people to experience it.
Waltz’s fiery response didn’t just defend U.S. policy — it reminded the entire UN why the Cuban regime remains under embargo in the first place. Millions have fled its tyranny, risking their lives on makeshift rafts just for a shot at freedom in the United States.
And on Tuesday, in front of the world, Mike Waltz made sure they were heard.
