Bruno Rodríguez Calls for Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat's Expulsion from UN; Opponent Responds with Pride

Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, the Cuban regime's foreign minister, demanded on Wednesday from the platform of the United Nations General Assembly the immediate expulsion of dissident Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat. Gutiérrez-Boronat, who serves as the General Secretary of the Cuban Resistance Assembly, was attending the session as a guest of the U.S. delegation.

This incident took place on the second day of the annual debate concerning the U.S. embargo on Cuba. It marks a peak in the ongoing hostility from the Cuban regime towards Cuban activists at the UN, which has been escalating over the past weeks.

Rodríguez labeled Gutiérrez-Boronat as a "terrorist" and a "criminal," alleging that he is ranked 52nd on Cuba's international wanted list for acts of terrorism and accusing him of misappropriating U.S. government funds for personal use.

"I request, Mr. President, that you ask the United Nations Secretariat to verify the presence of this individual in the gallery and demand his immediate removal. This is an insult, Mr. President, to all victims of terrorism," Rodríguez stated before the General Assembly.

Also present was José Daniel Ferrer, the founder of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and a former political prisoner, who accompanied Gutiérrez-Boronat as part of the Cuban opposition's presence at the UN headquarters.

Gutiérrez-Boronat promptly responded on Facebook, expressing his stance with a simple phrase: "The foreign minister of the dictatorship demands my expulsion from the United Nations, how proud I am. Cuba will be free."

This is not the first attack he has faced in this setting. On October 19, Cuban diplomats, led by Ambassador Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, staged a protest in the UN corridors against Gutiérrez-Boronat, Ferrer, and artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, shouting "Terrorists!" and "Out of the UN!"

In the days that followed, both Rodríguez and Miguel Díaz-Canel publicly reiterated their accusations. Gutiérrez-Boronat countered: "I am neither a terrorist nor a fraudster. I am not a terrorist because I did not come to power by planting bombs in cinemas, parks, nightclubs, or hijacking civilian planes, as was done on July 26."

On the first day of the debate, Rodríguez was involved in another incident when he physically approached the podium where U.S. Ambassador Michael Waltz was speaking, prompting Assembly President Khalilur Rahman to temporarily suspend the session. In a related move, the U.S. ordered the expulsion of Cuban delegation's First Secretary Richard Tur de la Concepción, accused of trying to seize Waltz's spokesperson's phone during the confrontation; Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed the documentation, and the Cuban diplomat had 24 hours to leave the country.

International support for the Cuban resolution against the embargo has been steadily declining, from 187 votes in 2024 to 165 in October 2025, and just 136 in the extraordinary session of July 2026, marking the lowest level in over a decade. Over 554 Cuban activists and organizations, including Ferrer and Gutiérrez-Boronat, issued a letter urging democratic governments to vote against or abstain on Wednesday.