U.S. Ambassador Shows Photos of Cuban Political Prisoners at UN, Blames Regime for Stifling Freedom

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, delivered a passionate speech on Tuesday before the General Assembly, displaying photos of Cuban political prisoners and condemning Havana's regime as the true source of the Cuban people's hardships.

The speech occurred during a special session convened at the regime's request to discuss the U.S. embargo, amidst Cuba's third nationwide blackout of its National Electric Power System in 2026.

Waltz reframed the discussion from the start: "Today's talk has centered a lot on the embargo, but there is indeed a blockade affecting us all: the relentless blockade the Cuban regime imposes on its own people, decade after decade."

The ambassador highlighted the irony of the blackout as a backdrop: "Sadly, Cuba is once again shrouded in darkness. There's yet another blackout across the island," he remarked, adding that "there always seems to be light and power for the regime, for the dictatorship. Right now, there's electricity in the Castro family's compound. There's light there."

The most striking moment came when Waltz raised photos of Cuban political prisoners, naming each one aloud to the delegates.

First was Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader of the Movimiento San Isidro. "His crime was being an artist," Waltz declared, noting that Alcántara is in a maximum-security prison. His five-year sentence is set to expire on July 9, just two days after this session.

Waltz also mentioned Maykel Castillo Pérez (Maykel Osorbo), a rapper and co-creator of the anthem "Patria y Vida," sentenced to nine years for composing songs deemed subversive by the regime; a musician identified as Fernando Almadévez Rivera; the 24-year-old poet Duannis León Taboada, sentenced to 14 years and currently in solitary confinement at Combinado del Este; and the brothers Jorge and Martín Perdomo, whose detention was condemned by the UN, calling for their release.

"They are not violent, they carry no weapons. They bear flowers, they write poetry and songs, and for that, the regime seeks to silence them through imprisonment," Waltz stated.

His speech also targeted the regime's corruption: he questioned how the Cuban president affords a Hermès tie, a Rolex watch, and a Montblanc pen while the people starve; how the Castro family owns 700 mansions on the island, in Costa del Sol, and Moscow; and how the military conglomerate GAESA controls half the economy with an $18 billion trust fund, yet "not a penny goes to the Cuban people."

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla interrupted the speech twice with points of order, but both were dismissed by the Assembly's president. In his second interruption, he labeled the U.S. diplomat a "liar" and insisted the UN "is not a Green Beret camp."

Waltz remained unfazed, responding, "The truth is offensive, and the truth is not disrespectful."

He concluded his speech with a direct call to the delegations: "Stand with the Cuban people, not the regime that has brought the country to ruin. You cannot do both. The time has come to choose."

Despite Washington's diplomatic pressure—allegedly directed by Secretary Marco Rubio via a leaked cable instructing embassies to block the debate—the General Assembly voted to open the session with 136 in favor, nine against, and 30 abstentions, a significantly lower result than the 165 votes Cuba received in the annual vote of October 2025.