"An Island on a Continent"

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

According to U.S. official media reports, on 15 May 2024, the country’s State Secretary submitted to the Congress one more of the arbitrary reports that normally describe countries without any international mandate or recorgnition. This time, he listed four countries who allegedly “do not fully cooperate with the United States antiterrorist efforts for the 2023 calendar year.” As opposed to what has happened in recent years, the list does not slanderously include Cuba among such countries.

Nonetheless, the State Department keeps Cuba as one of the States in a list of those allegedly “sponsoring” terrorism. It is nothing but a totally unilateral and unfounded list, whose sole purpose is to smear sovereign States and serve as a pretext for imposing coercive economic sanctions on them, as those ruthlessly imposed on Cuba.

The demand for the United States government to amend such an injustice continues to be firmly and repeatedly made 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 itself and by several U.S. politicians.

The clear and absolute truth is that Cuba does not sponsor terrorism, but it has been a victim of it instead, including State terrorism. This is a question that can be confirmed by anyone interested in the topic and that is very well-known by the government of the United States, its State Department and its intelligence and law enforcement agencies. They are also fully aware of how significantly harmful are for the Cuban economy the sanctions, actions and the intimidating effect that automatically have on any State having it included in such a list, regardless of what the truth might be.

It is not enough to aknowledge that Cuba fully cooperates with the United States. Cuba does so with the entire international community as well. That is a widely known fact and public opinion is not to be misled about it.  The President of the United States has all the privileges to act honestly and to do what is right.

Havana, 15 May 2024.