U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz clashed with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla on Tuesday in a tense confrontation on the U.N. floor, as Waltz accused Cuba’s communist regime of corruption. 

An angry Rodríguez rose and advanced toward the podium, shouting at Waltz and accusing him of lying. Waltz pointed at the Cuban minister and told him to “back up.”

“He’s not going to intimidate me in the United States of America like he tries to intimidate political prisoners,” Waltz added as UN officials sought to restore order.

Cuba has become a target of the Trump administration under the “Donroe Doctrine,” which seeks to align countries in the Western Hemisphere with U.S. interests. As part of that foreign policy, Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro was deposed earlier this year in a U.S. special forces operation and brought to the United States to face justice. The administration has also taken a more aggressive stance toward Cuba expressing support for regime change, citing the communist government’s abuse of its citizens and hostility toward the United States.

However the confrontation between Ambassador Waltz and Rodríguez was not the only one to occur. Video obtained by the New York Post shows Waltz’s spokesman, J.P. Freire, being assaulted by another member of the Cuban delegation as he recorded the confrontation on his phone.

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Waltz’s broader speech argued against a U.N. resolution calling for an end to the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, which progressives and international leftists have accused of compounding the suffering caused by the country’s socialist mismanagement. 

The U.S. Ambassador to the UN countered that the regime targeted by the embargo has shown little concern for its citizens, accusing its leaders of amassing Rolex watches, real estate and other luxuries while the Cuban people have long suffered, which triggered the confrontation by the Cuban Foreign Minister.