U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz took the floor of the General Assembly hall on Tuesday to expose the wealth Cuba’s communist rulers have taken for themselves. He ended up in a shouting match with the regime’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.
The assembly was debating a non-binding resolution demanding an end to the U.S. economic, commercial, and financial embargo on Cuba, with a vote set for Wednesday. According to a report from the New York Post, Waltz used his time to show the room who actually benefits from the system that resolution seeks to prop up.
He started with the perks of Cuba’s political elite: real estate, luxury watches, and private jets, all enjoyed while ordinary Cubans sit through blackouts and shortages. Waltz then held up a photo of Che Guevara wearing a Rolex watch valued at roughly $40,000.
“According to the regime’s own statistics, that would pay for 55 years of an average Cuban wage,” Waltz said.
He also accused Fidel Castro’s government of sending “thousands of people, homosexuals, Christians, Afro-Cubans and others to concentration camps.” Then Waltz produced a second photo, this one of Cuba’s current president, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
“It didn’t just start with Castro,” Waltz said. “This is the current Cuban president, also with a Rolex on.”
The Cuban delegation wasn’t happy about this and banged on their desks. Rodríguez got out of his seat, walked up to the podium, and asked General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman to call Waltz to order under Rule 71. Waltz turned to the delegates as Rodríguez closed in.
