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Statement
from Cuban Ministry of
Foreign Relations
• MINREX forcefully
rejects the manipulation
of an issue as sensitive
as international
terrorism, in order to
advance a policy against
Cuba, and demands that
our country be
definitively deleted
from this spurious,
unilateral, arbitrary
list, which is an
affront to the Cuban
people, and discredits
the government of the
United States itself
On April 30, the U.S.
State Department
released its Country
Report on Terrorism
2013, which repeated the
absurd designation of
Cuba as “a state sponsor
of terrorism,” for the
32nd time.
The State Department was
obliged to recognize in
its own report that in
2013 Cuba supported and
sponsored negotiations
between the FARC and the
government of Colombia,
with the objective of
achieving a peace
agreement; that there is
no information
indicating that the
Cuban government has
supplied weapons or
paramilitary training to
terrorist groups; and
that members of the ETA
resident in Cuba were
relocated with the
cooperation of the
Spanish government.
Despite this,
considerations of a
political nature and the
need to justify at all
cost the failed
blockade, unanimously
rejected by the
international community,
take precedence over
rationality once again.
The only pretext to
which the State
Department alludes, to
support this slanderous
accusation of Cuba, is
the presence in the
country of “fugitives”
from U.S. justice, none
of whom, it is worth
clarifying, have been
accused of terrorism.
Some of these citizens
were legitimately
granted asylum, while
others who committed
crimes in the United
States, were duly tried
and sentenced, and chose
to reside in Cuba after
the completion of their
sentences.
The government of Cuba
reaffirms that our
national territory has
never been utilized, nor
will it be utilized, to
shelter terrorists of
any nationality, or for
the purpose of
organizing, financing or
perpetuating terrorism
against any country in
the world, including the
United States. Moreover,
our government rejects
and unequivocally
condemns all acts of
terrorism, in any
location, under any
circumstances, and
regardless of alleged
motivations.
It is the United States
government which employs
state terrorism as a
weapon against countries
which oppose its
domination. It uses
repugnant methods of
torture and advanced
military technology,
including unpiloted
drones, to
extra-judicially execute
alleged terrorists,
including U.S. citizens,
additionally causing the
deaths of many innocent
victims within the
civilian population.
Cuba is one of the
countries which, for
defending its
independence and
dignity, has suffered
over decades the
consequences of
terrorist acts,
organized, financed and
executed from U.S.
territory, acts which
have caused 3,478 deaths
and 2,099 debilitating
injuries.
Cuba, Latin America and
the Caribbean and the
world will never forget
that the United States
continues to harbor
terrorists of Cuban
origin, such as Luis
Posada Carriles,
intellectual author of
the first terrorist
attack on a civilian
aircraft in the Western
Hemisphere, causing the
in-flight explosion of a
Cubana de Aviación plane
off the coast of
Barbados, October 6,
1976, killing the 73
passengers aboard.
Paradoxically, the U.S.
continues to hold
serving long, unjust
prison sentences, those
who struggled against
terrorism, Gerardo
Hernández, Ramón
Labañino and Antonio
Guerrero, for crimes
they did not commit.
The Ministry of Foreign
Relations forcefully
rejects the manipulation
of an issue as sensitive
as international
terrorism, in order to
advance a policy against
Cuba, and demands that
our country be
definitively deleted
from this spurious,
unilateral, arbitrary
list, which is an
affront to the Cuban
people, and discredits
the government of the
United States itself.
Havana, April 30, 2014
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