Richard Tur de la Concepción

Introduction

Richard Tur de la Concepción is a Cuban diplomat who served as First Secretary of Cuba’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, with responsibility for matters before the Fifth Committee, the UN body that handles the organization’s budget and administration. He was identified as the official accused of shoving and attempting to assault J.P. Freire, a member of the US delegation and spokesman for Ambassador Mike Waltz, while Freire recorded a confrontation on the floor of the UN General Assembly on October 27, 2026. Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed paperwork to expel him from the United States, and Waltz said he would be on a plane to Havana within 24 hours.

Background Information

Tur de la Concepción’s role at the mission came to light through an identification by the Cuban exile outlet elTOQUE, which named him as the delegate involved and described his Fifth Committee portfolio covering the UN’s budget and administration. The confrontation occurred during the General Assembly’s annual debate on the US embargo against Cuba, a non-binding resolution that has been voted on every year since 1992. Ambassador Waltz used his speech to accuse Havana’s leadership of profiting from forced labor and corruption, holding up photos of the late dictator Fidel Castro wearing two Rolex watches and of current president Miguel Diaz-Canel wearing one, and saying the watches would pay for “55 years of an average Cuban wage” under the regime’s own statistics. Relations between Washington and Havana had already been deteriorating through October: on October 19, Cuban diplomats led by permanent representative Ernesto Soberón Guzmán staged a repudiation act at UN headquarters against former political prisoners José Daniel Ferrer and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, shouting “terrorists,” “liars,” and “get out of the UN” during a forum organized by the US mission.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations from the US delegation — Ambassador Mike Waltz’s public account and video his spokesman recorded, as reported by the New York Post, Daily Mail and other outlets. They were never admitted by Tur de la Concepción, never criminally charged, and never adjudicated in court. Tur de la Concepción has not issued a personal public response; Cuba’s foreign minister has called the US account lies and propaganda.

The confrontation began as Waltz delivered his speech criticizing “corrupt Cuban elites.” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla left his seat and approached the podium, calling the US ambassador a liar, and General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman briefly suspended the session and ordered delegates to return to their seats. It then became physical, according to the US account: Tur de la Concepción allegedly lunged at Freire — Waltz’s spokesman — and attempted to snatch the iPhone Freire was using to record the exchange. Video shared by Waltz shows him wagging his finger, pushing Freire’s device away, and accusing Freire of “violating [his] personal space.” The footage shows him approaching Freire and reaching for the phone, and he was later escorted from the chamber, appearing to place his hand over the camera once more as he left.

That evening on Fox News’ “Hannity,” Waltz said Rubio had signed the paperwork to eject the Cuban first secretary from the country, accusing him of having “shoved and tried to assault” a member of the American delegation. “He’s gone. He’s going to be on a plane to Havana within the next 24 hours,” Waltz said. “You lay a hand on an American here in the United States, President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and myself – we’re not going to stand for it.” Freire told the Daily Mail the delegate had used “the same intimidation” the Cuban side had used to cut off Waltz’s microphone on a previous occasion, adding, “Under the Castro’s communist regime, it’s always the regime’s turn.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

The expulsion was the immediate consequence: Rubio signed the documentation, and Waltz announced it on television within hours of the incident. Waltz framed the conduct as typical of a dictatorship’s envoys, writing on X that “regime thugs rushed the stage to interrupt my speech” and warning Cuba against trying “that nonsense in the United States of America.” Cuba’s side disputed the account: Rodríguez Parrilla labeled Waltz’s speech a “media circus,” accused Washington of lying “in a crude and permanent manner,” and called Waltz’s conduct “arrogance and hubris.” David Ramirez Alvarez, a diplomat at the Cuban Embassy, posted on X that Waltz was “a disgrace to what it means to be a diplomat” and that “Cuba will not stay idly as this person eviscerates the principles of the United Nations.”

Current Status

Tur de la Concepción’s expulsion from the United States was signed by Secretary Rubio on October 27, 2026, and announced by Ambassador Waltz the same evening, with departure for Havana expected within 24 hours. No criminal charges against him have been announced; the shoving allegation rests on the US delegation’s account and its video, and remains unadjudicated. Cuba’s mission has not confirmed his identity, and the naming came through elTOQUE’s investigation and Cuban media identification rather than any statement from Havana. The annual embargo resolution vote he was present for went ahead the following day as scheduled.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A First Secretary posting at the UN is a senior diplomatic position, and Tur de la Concepción’s expulsion ends his assignment in New York and bars his return to the United States. The incident drew international coverage at a moment of rapidly escalating US-Cuba tensions, and his identification focused attention on his Fifth Committee portfolio, which Cuban exile sources described as part of an attempted regime infiltration of the UN’s budget body — a characterization Havana has not addressed. The episode also handed the US delegation a public demonstration of its warning that physical confrontations with American diplomats carry expulsion consequences, delivered at the annual embargo vote where Cuba’s resolution received its weakest support in two decades the previous year.

Sources

New York Post, “Cuban official accused of shoving US diplomat during Mike Waltz’s shouting match at UN to be kicked out of US: ‘He’s gone’,” October 28, 2026 — source
Daily Mail, “Rubio expels Cuban diplomat from the US after chaotic scene at UN during Trump ambassador Mike Waltz’s speech,” October 28, 2026 — source
CiberCuba, “The U.S. expels Cuban diplomat accused of assaulting American official at the UN: ‘He will be on a flight to Havana within the next 24 hours.’”, October 28, 2026 — source
CubaHeadlines, “U.S. Deports Cuban Diplomat Accused of Assaulting American Official at the U.N.: ‘On a Flight to Havana Within 24 Hours’”, October 28, 2026 — source
Dispatch Times, “Rubio expels Cuban diplomat after UN chaos during Waltz’s speech,” October 28, 2026 — source