Cuba slams Trump 'falsehoods' after US President says island 'will fall'

Cuban officials react strongly against Trump's speech at the UN, emphasizing the nation's right to self-determination.

Cuba's foreign minister on Tuesday reacted furiously to "falsehoods" spread by US President Donald Trump, who told the United Nations the island "will fall."

President Donald Trump speaks during the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool Photo via AP) (Brendan Smialowski/Pool AFP via )

Cuban delegates left the room during Trump's speech at the UN General Assembly in New York, at a moment of exceptionally strained Washington-Havana relations.

His administration imposed an energy blockade on the island in January, piling on more measures since then, and he has openly mused about seizing control of the territory.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez asserted his country's sovereignty after Trump said Cuba "will fall," without elaborating how.

"The US government is incapable of accepting that Cuba is and has the right to be a full sovereign and independent country," Rodriguez wrote on X, adding that "none of the falsehoods by the US President at the UN can deny that fact."

"We are a country of peace and we deserve peace," said Rodriguez, who is heading the Cuban delegation to New York.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel also denounced Trump's bellicose rhetoric.

"Unable to justify the punishment against the people of Cuba and their genocidal economic war, the President of the United States repeats at the UN that Cuba represents a threat," he posted on X.

"The lie is the resource of those who refuse to accept the right to self-determination of the Cuban people," he said.

Trump has claimed that the communist island located 150 kilometers (90 miles) off Florida's coast represents an "extraordinary threat" to US national security.