ICAP commends support from international community

MATANZAS, Cuba, Jan 15 (ACN) The office of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) in the province of Matanzas recognized the great influence of the international community on U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent decision to remove Cuba from the unilateral list of alleged state sponsors of terrorism.

During a meeting held to review the entity’s main results in 2024, ICAP vice president Victor Gaute Lopez said that the support received from families and friends from around the world played a key role in putting an end to this and other "irrational and illogical" measures and that those who support Cuba still have reasons to make similar demands regarding the U.S. blockade, intensified by other policies dating back to the Donald Trump administration.

“Beyond this belatedly taken decision, Cubans everywhere must brace for the big challenges that 2025 will bring, which calls for the crucial consolidation of our typical unity”, he remarked.

On January 14, 2025, the U.S. government announced plans to lift Cuba’s alleged designation as terror sponsor, to issue a waiver for Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, and to eliminate the list of Cuban entities banned from engaging in financial transactions with U.S. citizens and institutions.

On her end, provincial ICAP director Teresa Rubio Perez praised the efforts of her staff to coordinate and receive visitors and donations for local hospitals, schools and other centers and stressed that the plans for this year envisage further steps to increase the organization’s influence abroad and strengthen the Cuba Solidarity Movement for the benefit of the Revolution and other just causes elsewhere, especially that of the Palestinian people.