U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz delivered a blistering response to Cuban accusations of an American «act of war» on Tuesday, telling the Cuban delegation at the UN General Assembly that the real embargo is the one Havana imposes on its own people. The confrontation erupted after Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the Trump administration of orchestrating an energy collapse through fuel shipment restrictions, which he described as equivalent to a naval blockade and an act of war.
Waltz rejected the claim outright, stating that there are no U.S. Navy warships surrounding Cuba blocking trade or humanitarian aid. «It's fake. It's false. It's a lie. Period,» he said. The exchange came one day after Cuba's national electrical grid collapsed for the third time this year, leaving nearly 10 million people without power. It was the eighth nationwide grid failure since October 2025, according to Reuters. Cuban officials had restored electricity to parts of central Cuba and roughly one-third of Havana by Tuesday morning, but large areas remained offline or faced unstable service.
Rodríguez told delegates that the Trump administration was waging a «multidimensional, non-conventional war» against Cuba that had grown «more cruel and ruthless in the last seven months.» He described U.S. efforts to restrict fuel deliveries as imposing «an energy collapse, equivalent to a naval blockade, which is an act of war,» according to a UNTV transcript. Waltz countered by arguing that the Cuban government imposes its own embargo on its citizens, denying them basic freedoms and necessities. «There's a lot of talk today of an embargo. And indeed there is one,» Waltz said. «It's the embargo the Cuban regime mercilessly imposes on its own people decade after decade after decade.»
Waltz called on Havana to «change your ways» and «turn the lights back on for your people,» while accusing Cuba's leaders of ensuring that government compounds and propaganda operations had power even as families worried about spoiled food, hospitals losing electricity and phones running out of charge. He noted that Tuesday's meeting came days before the fifth anniversary of the July 11, 2021, demonstrations, when thousands of Cubans took to the streets amid shortages of food, medicine and electricity and demanded greater freedom.
As Waltz spoke, a member of the Cuban delegation pounded on the table, prompting the ambassador to respond. «This is not Havana. This is the United States of America. This is the United Nations,» Waltz said. «And we will speak, we will be heard, and we will not be silenced like your own people. So, pound away.» Waltz displayed photographs and read the names of several jailed Cuban artists, musicians and activists, including Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Castillo Pérez and Duannis Dabel León Taboada. «They're not armed. They're not violent,» Waltz said. «They carry flowers, and write poems and write music. And for that, the regime beats them, detains them and tries to break them.»
Waltz also highlighted GAESA, Cuba's military-run conglomerate, which he said controls approximately half of the country's economy and holds $18 billion in assets. Reuters has reported that estimates of GAESA's economic reach range from approximately 40% to 70%, while Cuban officials dispute the U.S. government's $18 billion figure. Waltz argued that despite Cuba's blockade claims, humanitarian assistance had recently arrived from countries including China, Russia, Mexico, Canada and Spain, as well as from the European Union and the United Nations. He also said the United States had provided more than $100 million in aid this year and approximately $500 million annually in commodities.
«The answer is simple: because blaming the United States is the only economic plan Havana has left,» Waltz said of Cuba's decision to bring the issue before the General Assembly. Before the wider debate, U.S. Representative for U.N. Management and Reform Jeffrey Bartos objected to reopening the agenda item and called for a vote on whether the proceedings should go forward. Bartos said the three-hour meeting would cost approximately $84,000, money he argued could instead provide food, emergency medical supplies and solar lanterns to Cuban families. «Right now, Cuba is in darkness — again,» Bartos said. «I urge the Cuban regime: turn the lights back on for your people.»
Members of the Cuban delegation also interrupted Bartos several times by pounding on the table. Bartos at one point paused and responded, «Keep banging away. It's very effective,» before continuing his remarks. Bartos accused Havana of seeking «another propaganda clip» rather than solutions and pointed to what he said were more than 800 political prisoners held by the government. Independent organizations have produced varying estimates. Human Rights Watch said in April that more than 700 people remained imprisoned for political reasons, while Prisoners Defenders reported more than 1,200 political prisoners in Cuba in the spring of 2026. Cuba denies holding anyone for political reasons. «That is the real Cuban embargo,» Bartos said. «It is the embargo the regime imposes on its own people: on speech, on faith, on enterprise, on dissent, on political rights and hope — and now, quite literally, on light.» Rodríguez accused the U.S. delegation of offering «worn-out lies» and attempting to prevent the General Assembly from debating the effects of American policy.
