Cuba was removed from the US list of countries sponsoring terrorism, a White House decision celebrated today by world leaders and social organisations that also demand an end to the US blockade.
The measure announced the day before by Joe Biden’s administration was welcomed by several countries, especially in Latin America, including Venezuela, Colombia and Bolivia, as well as representatives of solidarity movements with the Caribbean nation. The Bolivarian government of President Nicolás Maduro described the US action as limited and argued that such a designation should never have been applied to the Caribbean island.
In this regard, it stressed the need to dismantle the economic, financial and commercial blockade that has affected Cuban society for more than 60 years.
For his part, the Bolivian head of state, Luis Arce, praised the US decision and affirmed that «reason, truth and justice have prevailed», after the «unilateral, arbitrary and infamous inclusion (on the list) in 2021», the dignitary stated on his X account.
For his part, the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, also welcomed the exclusion of Cuba from the list, which was unilaterally drawn up by the United States. The president considered that eliminating punitive measures, even partially, is a step forward.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry expressed its gratitude to the Cuban people for their unrestricted support in the processes of negotiation and dialogue necessary to achieve peaceful coexistence in Colombia.
«Because of our firm conviction in multilateralism as a principle of international relations, we reject the imposition of sanctions and unilateral measures and therefore, together with other allied countries in the region, we support the efforts and requests for the sister Republic of Cuba to be excluded from this list,» added the ministry’s note.
The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty welcomed the news and also praised «the elimination by the US government of two other unilateral coercive measures» announced by the White House on Tuesday.
According to the Latin American and Caribbean integration bloc, despite the limited nature of the decision, it «goes in the right direction and in line with the sustained and firm demands of Cuba» and numerous international actors, while favouring the Cuban nation in its sovereign path of development.
In the United States, the National Network on Cuba (NNOC) reaffirmed its commitment to fight against the blockade and highlighted the solidarity efforts to achieve the result made public the day before by the Biden administration.
NNOC co-chair Cheryl LaBash told Prensa Latina that «When we fight, we win!», referring to the «many resolutions representing more than 60 million people in the United States – city councils, state legislatures, unions – who made their voices heard».