Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed paperwork to expel a Cuban diplomat accused of physically confronting an American official during a chaotic scene at the United Nations on Tuesday. US Ambassador Mike Waltz announced [1] the decision hours after the confrontation.
Richard Tur de la Concepcion, the First Secretary of Cuba’s UN delegation, lunged at Waltz spokesman JP Freire and attempted to take an iPhone that Freire was using to record the scene. Video captured the attempted grab.
Appearing on Fox News on Tuesday evening, Waltz said Rubio had moved to remove Tur de la Concepcion from the United States. “He’s gone. He is going to be on a plane to Havana within the next 24 hours,” Waltz said on the network.
Waltz accused the Cuban diplomat of shoving and attempting to assault an American diplomat. He made clear that the Trump administration would not shrug off the physical confrontation as just another round of diplomatic theatrics.
“You lay a hand on an American here in the United States, President Trump, Secretary Rubio and myself, we’re not gonna stand for it,” Waltz said. The warning followed a heated exchange involving Waltz and members of Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla’s team.
Mike Waltz reveals on ‘Hannity’ that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has signed paperwork to expel a Cuban diplomat accused of shoving and attempting to assault an American diplomat.
“He’s gone. He is going to be on a plane to Havana within the next 24 hours,” Waltz says.
The announcement follows a heated confrontation between U.S. and Cuban officials at the United Nations. | @seanhannity
Download the FOX News app for the latest developments. https://t.co/ISpW9FcyGB
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 28, 2026 [2]
The trouble began after Waltz criticized what he called “corrupt Cuban elites.” During his remarks, the ambassador held up a photograph of late dictator Fidel Castro wearing two Rolex watches estimated to be worth roughly $40,000.
Waltz then displayed a photograph of Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel wearing a Rolex. He contrasted those images with statistics from the Cuban government about the average wage earned on the communist ruled island.
“According to the regime’s own statistics, that would pay for 55 years of an average Cuban wage,” Waltz said. “It didn’t just start with Castro. This is the current Cuban President, also with a Rolex on.”
See the corrupt Cuban regime’s Rolex collection while their people sit in the dark. https://t.co/6wMlNhmNhl
— Ambassador Mike Waltz (@USAmbUN) October 27, 2026 [3]
Rodriguez Parrilla then aggressively approached the podium and accused Waltz of lying. The American ambassador immediately fired back, telling the Cuban foreign minister, “Back up!”
Waltz then addressed the stunned assembly and refused to be intimidated by the interruption. “He doesn’t like hard truths. You can come and intimidate all you want,” he said.
The ambassador said Rodriguez Parrilla would not intimidate him in the United States of America in the same manner that he tries to intimidate political prisoners. The dispute only grew more heated when Tur de la Concepcion confronted Freire and reached for his phone.
NEW: @USAmbUN Mike Waltz just got into a shouting match on the floor of the general assembly with Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla
“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
“Back up!”
— Josh Christenson (@jchristenson_) October 27, 2026 [4]
Freire told the Daily Mail that the Cuban delegate used “the same intimidation” that clerks used to cut off Waltz’s microphone during an earlier episode. The spokesman added, “Under the Castro’s communist regime, it’s always the regime’s turn.”
Cuban Embassy diplomat David Ramirez Alvarez later attacked Waltz in a post on X, calling him a “disgrace to what it means to be a diplomat.” Alvarez also compared the ambassador to a character from the film “Idiocracy.”
“The man talks, walks and acts like a character from the film Idiocracy,” Alvarez posted. “Cuba will not stay idly as this person eviscerates the principles of the United Nations.”
The U.S. Permanent Representative Mike Waltz is a disgrace to what it means to be a diplomat.
The man talk, walks, and acts like a character from the film Idiocracy.
Cuba will not stay idly as this person eviscerates the principles of the United Nations. https://t.co/daumO1Chjl
— David Ramírez Álvarez (@DvidTwit) October 27, 2026 [5]
The UN spectacle unfolded as relations between Washington and Havana were rapidly deteriorating and the Trump administration was increasing pressure on Cuba. President Donald Trump has openly discussed possible American military intervention and warned that the Cuban dictatorship is living on borrowed time.
At a recent rally in Florida, Trump suggested American naval vessels returning from regional deployments could stop near Cuba. “We’ll do a little stopover,” Trump told the crowd. “We’ll have one of those beautiful ships stop about 50 yards off the coast… and then we’re going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal.”
The Pentagon has begun preparing for potential action. Rubio has also publicly called for reformists and dissidents inside Cuba to work with American intelligence channels to help dismantle the communist apparatus.
Rubio posted on X asking those Cubans to “seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA.” His move to expel Tur de la Concepcion now adds a direct consequence for the confrontation involving Waltz’s team at the United Nations.