Cuba urges the US to remove the country from its list of terrorist sponsors

The government of Cuba has demanded that the United States government remove the country from the list of countries alleged to sponsor terrorism, insisting that Cuba has done nothing to be included on that list.

A statement from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made available to LEADERSHIP by the embassy in Abuja, on May 15, 2024 condemned some official US media reports submitted to Congress by the country’s Secretary of State.

The Cuban government described the reports as “one of the arbitrary reports that normally describe countries without any international mandate or international recognition. “

It also criticized the US Secretary of State, who listed four countries that it said are “not fully cooperating with the United States’ counterterrorism efforts for the calendar year 2023.”

Cuban authorities said that, contrary to what has happened in recent years, Cuba is not among these countries in a defamatory manner.

It said: “Nevertheless, the State Department maintains Cuba as one of the states on a list of countries that allegedly ‘sponsor’ terrorism. It is nothing more than a completely one-sided and baseless list whose sole purpose is to smear sovereign states and serve as a pretext for imposing coercive economic sanctions, such as those ruthlessly imposed on Cuba.

“The demand for the government of the United States to right such an injustice continues to be voiced strongly and repeatedly, not only by the Cuban people and many governments, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, but also by political, social, and religious organizations in the United States. States themselves and by various American politicians, the Cuban government said in the statement.”

It added that the clear and absolute truth is that Cuba does not sponsor terrorism but has instead fallen victim to it, including state terrorism.

“This is a question that can be confirmed by anyone interested in the subject and well known to the United States Government, the Department of State, and the intelligence and law enforcement agencies. They are also fully aware of how significantly damaging the sanctions and actions are to the Cuban economy and of the intimidating effect they automatically have on any state that includes them on such a list, regardless of the truth.

“It is not enough to recognize that Cuba is fully cooperating with the United States. Cuba also does this with the entire international community. That is a well-known fact and public opinion should not be misled. The President of the United States has every privilege to act fairly and do what is right,” the statement said.