United Nations, Oct 28 (IANS) In a drama at the General Assembly, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla charged up to the dais yelling to confront US Permanent Representative Mike Waltz, disrupting a meeting on Washington’s sanctions against his country.
Assembly President Khalilur Rahman pleaded for calm, asking the Cubans to go back to their seat and let Waltz speak on Tuesday, and briefly suspended the meeting.
As Waltz was criticising the Havana government, the Cuban delegation thumped their desk and yelled.
They left their seats and marched towards the dais, as he accused the Cuban elite of corruption, saying, “Havana would have you believe everything in Cuba has just disappeared. Well, we know, we know where it went”.
Rodriguez kept interrupting Waltz, demanding to speak on a point of order.
Both of them got into a staring match, Waltz up from the black marble rostrum, and Rodriguez and his troops down in front of the podium.
Rahman pleaded, “Please help me in conducting the business in a smooth manner, and you will have that right”, to a point of order.
Waltz shouted at Rodriguez, “Back away! This isn’t Havana”.
Meanwhile, Rahman, like a teacher trying to keep order in an unruly classroom, said, “Please sit down. Sit down”, before suspending the meeting.
“I’m here to administer the rules of procedure in a fair manner, in an independent manner”, he said.
When the meeting resumed within minutes, Rodriguez raised his point of order, which was more of a response, that Waltz was “lying grossly” and “offending the dignity of the people and government of Cuba”.
When Waltz resumed his speech, he said that Rodriguez had tried to silence him in front of cameras and ambassadors, but “imagine what happens if you dare to speak out under the iron fist of this regime”.
He displayed photographs of what he said was a “Castro” wearing two Rolex watches worth $40,000.
He was probably referring to former president Raul Castro, the brother of Fidel Castro, the leader of the Cuban revolution.
The Assembly was discussing a resolution to be voted on Wednesday that would call for an end to the US embargo on Cuba, which has been tightening in recent months with a blockade on oil.
Most of the nations that spoke opposed Washington’s embargo and spoke in support of Cuba.
Uganda’s Permanent Representative Adonia Ayebare, speaking on behalf of the Nonaligned Movement, said the group “expresses its deep concern regarding the measures announced by the government of the United States this year, which tightened [the embargo]to unprecedented and extreme levels”.
Amid rumours of President Donald Trump planning an attack on Cuba, he said, “The Nonaligned Movement urges the General Assembly, as the most representative body of the United Nations, to mobilise efforts to prevent the military aggression against Cuba, a founding member of the Nonaligned Movement, and preserve peace”.
Singapore’s Permanent Representative Burhan Gafoor, speaking on behalf of the ASEAN, said the organisation “is particularly concerned about the impact of the embargo on the Cuban people, especially their access to food, medicines and other essential supplies”.
–IANS
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