Cuba denounces US moves to include it on the list of state sponsors of terrorism

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 30 (ACN) Cuban FM Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla denounced today the attempts of the United States government to include the Caribbean island in its list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

On Twitter, the Cuban minister of foreign affairs said that this tactic, supported by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, tries to please an anti-Cuban minority living in Florida.

The attempts to include Cuba on this list, Rodriguez Parrilla pointed out, come from the government of a country that protects terrorist groups acting against Havana.

Cuba had not appeared on this list since 2015, when its removal was made official, as part of the normalization of bilateral relations, after being included since 1982.

Nevertheless, last May the State Department of the northern country (under Section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act) declared Cuba, along with Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela, as non-cooperative with its anti-terrorist efforts.

On that occasion, the Caribbean nation was accused of not supporting Colombia's efforts to "ensure just and lasting peace, security and opportunity for its people," and of housing several fugitives from U.S. justice.

The aforementioned notification occurred on the same day that the Cuban foreign minister, in a press conference, accused the US government of complicit silence in the face of the terrorist attack perpetrated on April 30 against the Cuban embassy to Washington.

Among the legal implications of appearing on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism are restrictions on exports, trade, development aid and credits, actions that for Cuba are forbidden by that government's economic, commercial and financial blockade.

Havana has ratified on several occasions that the national territory has never been and will never be used to host terrorists of any origin, nor to organize, finance or perpetrate acts of terrorism against any country in the world, including the United States.