Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla thanked supporters around the world for their expressions of solidarity with Cuba, after our country was included on a list created by the United States government as a state sponsor of terrorism.
On his Twitter account, Rodríguez, also member of the Party Political Bureau wrote: “We are grateful for the numerous expressions rejecting the inclusion of Cuba on the illegitimate State Department list by prominent members of the U.S. Congress, religious organizations, the Cuban émigré community, institutions and figures at the international level.”
A stream of messages of solidarity continued to arrive after the announcement. French-Spanish professor and journalist Ignacio Ramonet called the U.S. move cynical. The organization Friends of Cuba in Thessaloniki, a Greek port city, described the act as vicious and provocative. Activists in the United Socialist Party of Venezuela issued a statement condemning U.S. imperialism and criticizing the designation as a farce.
The Party of the European Left stated that the incorporation of Cuba to the list was inadmissible and denounced the intensification of the blockade; while Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Soreide called the decision regrettable.
The announcement made by the U.S. State Department designating Cuba as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” provoked deep rejection by the international community.
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, noted in a tweet that Donald Trump’s administration “intends to mine the course of international politics before leaving through the back door of world history” and expressed his categorical rejection to “the inclusion of our sister Republic of Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.”
A statement from the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry strongly refuted the unfortunate move by the outgoing Donald Trump administration. “This decision reflects the manipulation and political-ideological use that Washington makes of an issue as sensitive as the fight against terrorism, in order to promote its agenda of destabilization and continuous aggression against the people and government of Cuba. Also evident is the intention to mine the road ahead, to create obstacles to a rapprochement between the incoming White House government and the revolutionary government of Cuba,” the message reads.
The executive secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti, posted on his Twitter account, “The arbitrary decision of the United States government not only violates the United Nations Charter and international law, but is an affront to the peoples of the world. In the midst of a pandemic and under a criminal blockade, Cuba is sending doctors and saving thousands and thousands of lives.” He added that if there were a list of countries sponsoring solidarity and life, Cuba would be in first place.
For his part, former advisor to the Obama Administration, Ben Rhodes, described the designation in a tweet as “a politicized piece of trash meant to tie the hands of an administration that takes power in ten days,” adding, “Cuba is not a state sponsor of terrorism.”
Previously, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Patrick Leahy, Ron Wyden, Chris Van Hollen, Jack Reed, Jeff Merkley, Sherrod Brown, Martin Heinrich and Tina Smith sent a letter to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on January 7, expressing their concern about the possibility of such a decision without consultation or formal review by Congress.
Many other organizations and personalities around the world condemned the Trump administration’s decision to continue its attacks on Cuba.
(Taken from Granma)