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Richard Tur de la Concepción, a first secretary at Cuba’s mission to the United Nations, has been identified as the diplomat involved in a confrontation with U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz’s team during a General Assembly session.
Cuban journalist José Raúl Gallego and commentator Magdiel Jorge Castro identified Tur after Waltz released video and accused a Cuban representative of trying to intimidate UN staff and a member of the American delegation.
Tur handles administrative and budgetary matters for Cuba’s permanent mission. The confrontation comes as he seeks a seat on the UN’s Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, which advises the General Assembly on the organization’s finances.
Jorge Castro said sources who knew Tur personally helped identify the man in the footage. He described the official as behaving aggressively and attempting to grab a phone from a member of Waltz’s team.
Waltz alleged that a Cuban delegate had pressed UN personnel to cut the U.S. delegation’s microphones while he criticized Cuba’s government. Video coverage described in the original report on the incident showed a Cuban representative reaching toward the phone of J.P. Freire, Waltz’s spokesman, as Freire recorded the encounter.
A role overseeing UN budget issues
Tur has handled matters involving the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee since January 2024. The committee considers the UN’s administrative affairs and budget.
Cuba nominated him in 2026 for the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions. A note from the UN secretary-general dated October 22 listed his candidacy among nominations for 10 seats carrying three-year terms beginning January 1, 2027. Candidates from the United States, Russia and Ukraine were also listed.
His diplomatic career began at Cuba’s Foreign Ministry. From 2017 to 2021, he worked in its Directorate of Multilateral Affairs and International Law, covering human rights, migration, refugees and humanitarian issues.
He joined Cuba’s UN mission as a second secretary in September 2021. He studied international relations at Havana’s Raúl Roa García Higher Institute of International Relations from 2012 to 2017 and also taught French at the Alliance Française in the Cuban capital during that period.
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UN Digital Library records cited in the Spanish-language report list at least 34 statements by Tur between December 2021 and May 2025, primarily on budgetary and financial matters.
A family with diplomatic ties
Gallego said Tur comes from a family of Cuban diplomats. He also alleged that Tur’s position has traditionally been held by intelligence officers working under diplomatic cover. The Spanish-language report did not provide independent evidence that Tur himself is an intelligence officer.
Jorge Castro, citing accounts from former classmates, reported that Tur’s family connections afforded him overseas travel, tennis lessons and an international-school education from childhood.
A résumé submitted by Cuban authorities to the UN lists his birthplace as Havana and his date of birth as August 31, 1993.
Tur appears in the UN’s Blue Book, the official directory of accredited representatives, as a first secretary in Cuba’s mission. The Spanish-language report describes the mission as a 47-diplomat delegation headed by Ernesto Soberón Guzmán.
Read Magdiel Jorge Castro’s account on X.
The confrontation during the embargo debate
The dispute unfolded Tuesday, October 27, during the General Assembly’s debate on Havana’s resolution opposing the U.S. embargo.
Waltz said on X that a Cuban diplomat tried to pressure UN personnel to silence the American delegation’s microphones. He said the same official also tried to intimidate a member of his staff.
The episode coincided with a direct clash between Waltz and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla. Members of Cuba’s delegation banged on tables during the ambassador’s speech, and Rodríguez approached the podium to demand the floor. The session was briefly suspended.
Waltz challenged the delegation’s response to his criticism of political repression and the privileges enjoyed by Cuba’s ruling elite. He later accused Cuban representatives on X of rushing the stage to interrupt his remarks.
Related: Mike Waltz denounces the Castro family’s luxury lifestyle at the UN (Spanish).
Read the original Spanish-language report by Carlos Escorihuela.
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