State Department confirms Tur de la Concepcion has left the United States
The State Department said Wednesday that Richard Tur de la Concepcion had left the United States and was no longer welcome there. A spokesman said, “We have made clear to the Cuba Mission that this individual is not welcome in the United States, and as a result this individual has left.” The spokesman did not provide details. Tur de la Concepcion was listed as the first secretary of the Cuban Mission.
The shouting and cellphone episodes took place Tuesday inside the U.N. General Assembly Hall but at different locations. They unfolded during the annual debate on the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba. Waltz criticized Havana’s leadership and alleged that the regime had enriched itself while impoverishing the population.
Waltz took the podium nearly an hour into the debate and immediately accused the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro of sending thousands to “concentration camps,” prompting loud objections. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez and his team of diplomats pounded their desks; one made a timeout motion, and others demanded that the presiding official respect “procedural” rules that would allow them a response.
Rodríguez, followed by other Cuban diplomats, then walked toward the rostrum where Waltz was speaking to address the presiding official, Bangladesh’s Khalilur Rahman, who was president of the U.N. Security Council and seated behind the U.S. ambassador. The Wall Street Journal reported that Rodríguez did not approach Waltz or appear to address him directly, even as both men continued speaking in loud voices.
As the Cubans requested time to speak, Waltz shouted, “This is America, my friend,” tapping his fingers for emphasis. He said, “You cannot silence me,” and added, “Back up!”
After an exchange near the podium, Rodríguez returned to the Cuban delegation’s seats and was given an opportunity to speak. He accused Waltz of “lying grossly.” Over the next half-hour or so, the Cuban delegation repeatedly shouted objections and pounded its table as Waltz used photos of what he said were expensive watches and a private island to argue that Castro, his family and other members of the Cuban elite lived lavishly. He said the contrast with the communist philosophies “would make New York socialites blush.”
The cellphone incident unfolded elsewhere in the hall. In a video Waltz posted online Tuesday, Tur de la Concepcion was seen smacking the cellphone recording him and saying, “he violated my personal space.” In his post, Waltz said one of the “regime’s ‘diplomats’” tried to intimidate U.N. staff into cutting the microphones while he exposed the regime for the world to see.
Cuba’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Ernesto Soberon, issued an open letter Wednesday to the U.N. secretary-general. The letter accused a Waltz spokesman of harassing Tur de la Concepcion by violating his personal space in using a cellphone to take videos. It made no mention of the expulsion, and the Cuban Consulate did not respond to questions about the case.
The incidents and the expulsion illustrated an increasingly bitter tenor and deteriorating relations between the United States and Cuba during the Trump administration, The Wall Street Journal reported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Waltz periodically denounce the Cuban government. President Trump implemented tough sanctions that brought Cuba’s already ailing economy to a halt and repeatedly hinted at military intervention to overthrow the Cuban leadership.
Historically, the United States has ordered Cuban diplomats out of the country several times, usually after accusations of spying.
At the end of the proceedings, 130 U.N. members voted to support a resolution calling on the United States to end its trade embargo on Cuba. 17 members voted against, and 25 abstained.