Cuba included in U.S. list of countries not fighting terrorism, Cuban govt. calls it a sham
HAVANA, Cuba, May 14 (ACN) The U.S. State Department has included Cuba on Wednesday on its list of countries that are not cooperating in fighting terrorism, along with other nations such as Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela.
Cuba was not on that list since 2015, when it was removed during the administration of President Barack Obama, after being included for 33 years, according to Russia Today.
The official statement says these countries are included under Section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act as “not fully cooperating” with Washington’s anti-terrorism efforts; and, based on that regulation; the sale or licensing of defense goods and services for export to these states is banned.
It refers that Cuba was included because members of the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN) remained in Havana in 2019 and the Cuban government refused to extradite 10 of its members, after it claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack on the General Santander School of Cadets in Bogota, killing 22 and wounding more than 60.
The State Department also argues that Cuba is home to several fugitives from U.S. justice; among them is Joanne Chesimard, who was convicted of executing New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster in 1973.
In this regard, Rodrigo Malmierca, Cuban minister of foreign trade and foreign investment, described as a mockery the decision of the U.S. State Department to include Cuba again in the list of countries that do not collaborate in the fight against terrorism.
On Twitter, Malmierca questions the right of the United States to make these lists, which he describes as politicized, when the White House remains silent about the armed aggression perpetrated against the Cuban embassy to Washington last April 30.
For her part, Maria del Carmen Concepcion, president of the Cuban Parliamentary Services Commission, called the inclusion of her country on the State Department’s list insulting, defiant and aberrant.
And Cuban FM Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, referring to the attack on the Cuban diplomatic mission, said he still hoped that the U.S. government would try to match its rhetoric of fighting terrorism at the international level with its responsibilities in the face of an armed attack on a foreign mission in the heart of Washington.
