Cuba thanked the world for its removal from the US list of terrorist-sponsoring countries, a decision taken today by the White House.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry reacted by describing the decision as limited but in the right direction and in line with the global demand expressed by almost all countries in various forums.
However, Washington maintains the unjust and criminal economic blockade against the island, which causes suffering to the people, the Foreign Ministry said in a communiqué.
This is a decision in the right direction and in line with the sustained and firm demand of the government and people of Cuba, and with the broad, emphatic and reiterated call of numerous governments, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, of Cubans living abroad, of political, religious and social organisations, and of numerous political figures in the United States and other countries.
After thanking everyone for their contribution and sensitivity, the Cuban government stressed that the measure puts an end to specific coercive measures that, along with many others, cause serious damage to the Cuban economy, with a severe effect on the population.
«This is and has been an issue in Cuba’s official exchanges with the government of the United States,» the text remarked.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex) of the island recalled that the economic blockade and a good part of the dozens of coercive measures that were put in place since 2017 to reinforce it remain in force, with full extraterritorial effect and in violation of international law and the human rights of all Cubans.
In this regard, he exemplified that the illegal and aggressive persecution continues against fuel supplies that Cuba has a legitimate right to import.
He also mentioned the continuation of what he describes as «cruel and absurd persecution of Cuba’s legitimate international medical cooperation agreements with other countries, thus threatening to deprive millions of people of health services and limiting the potential of the Cuban public health system».
Cuba’s international financial transactions or those of any nationals that are related to Cuba remain under prohibition and reprisals. Merchant ships docking in Cuba also remain under threat, the Minrex listed.
The blockade affects the US people as well, since, according to the Foreign Ministry, «all US citizens, companies and subsidiaries of US corporations are prohibited from trading with Cuba or Cuban entities, with very restricted and regulated exceptions.
«Harassment, intimidation and threats against the national of any country that intends to trade with or invest in Cuba continue to be official US policy».
The document also states that Cuba remains a destination that the US government prohibits its citizens from visiting.
It stressed that the economic war remains and persists in posing the fundamental obstacle to the development and recovery of the Cuban economy at a high human cost to the population, and continues to be a stimulus to emigration.
The island is not unaware that the US government «could reverse the measures adopted today in the future, as has happened on other occasions and as a sign of the lack of legitimacy, ethics, consistency and reason in its conduct against Cuba».
However, it maintains that it will continue to «confront and denounce this policy of economic warfare, the interference programmes and the disinformation and discrediting operations financed every year with tens of millions of dollars from the US federal budget.
Despite this, it expresses its willingness «to develop a relationship of respect with that country, based on dialogue and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, despite differences».
Taken from CubaSí