No to U.S. Designation of Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism
Cuba Is Not a State that Sponsors Terrorism!
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) condemns the decision of the Trump administration in its final days to designate Cuba as a State sponsor of terrorism as the State Department did on Monday, January 11. We call on all Canadians to denounce this baseless accusation and demand it be retracted immediately. We call on Canadians to urge the government of Canada to disassociate itself with this outrageous move and call on the international community to refuse to recognize it and not appease it in any way.
Cuba rejects terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, wherever it is committed, no matter by whom or against whom. Cuba has been a victim of relentless U.S. state terrorism and U.S.-inspired state terrorism on numerous occasions. It has suffered 3,478 fatalities and 2,099 persons with disabilities due to actions carried out by U.S. governments or that have been perpetrated and sponsored from U.S. territory with the connivance of U.S. authorities.
The United States has no moral authority to designate other countries as terrorist states. For the State Department to do this in the dying days of the Trump presidency is reprehensible. It is doing many unpardonable things besides its assault of unprecedented proportions on the U.S. Congress for which President Trump has been impeached, for the second time, on charges of inciting an insurrection. Further, the followers of this administration are holding the entire country hostage to threats of terrorist attacks against federal institutions in the six days prior to the inauguration of the new administration on January 20.
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy decried this designation saying: “… domestic terrorism in the United States poses a far greater threat to Americans than Cuba does.”
We fully support the statement of the Cuban government which condemned in the strongest and most absolute terms this fraudulent, arbitrary, unjust and baseless decision by the current U.S. Administration (see Statement below by the Cuban Foreign Ministry). We reiterate the following points without equivocation:
– Cuba is widely recognized by the international community as a country that promotes peace and solidarity all over the world. It does not belong to a list of States sponsors of terrorism.
– This designation by the U.S. State Department is not motivated by any legitimate concern related to terrorism or its consequences.
– Its aim is solely to denigrate Cuba and justify the imposition of harsher coercive economic measures imposed in the last week, in addition to the more than 230 unilateral sanctions implemented by the Trump Administration which have caused irreparable damage to the Cuban economy and people.
– Its true motivation is to impose additional obstacles to any prospective restoration of bilateral relations between Cuba and the United States.
– Show your support by attending the virtual picket against the blockade of Cuba to be held on January 17. Denounce the measures taken by the Trump administration to throttle Cuba.
Firm and Absolute Condemnation of Fraudulent Designation of Cuba as State Sponsor of Terrorism
– Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs –
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba condemns, in the strongest and most absolute terms, the fraudulent designation of Cuba as a State sponsor of terrorism which, in a cynical and hypocritical move, has been announced by the government of the United States.
For some months now, there have been speculations about the possibility of including Cuba in a unilateral list issued by the State Department that designates countries, without having received any mandate or having any legitimacy whatsoever to do so, and without any genuine motive in relation to terrorism and its consequences, in order to use it as an instrument to denigrate and implement coercive economic measures against other countries that refuse to indulge the whims of U.S. imperialism.
The announcement made by Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is an arrogant act by a discredited, dishonest and morally bankrupt government. It is well known — and there is little doubt about it — that the true motivation behind this action is to impose additional obstacles to any prospective restoration of bilateral relations between Cuba and the United States.
Cuba is not a State that sponsors terrorism and this is a truth that is widely recognized by everyone. Cuba’s official and well-known policy and impeccable behavior reject terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, particularly State terrorism, by and against whomever, and wherever it is committed.
Cuba has been a State victim of terrorism and our people have suffered from it first hand, at the cost of 3,478 fatalities and 2,099 persons with disabilities due to actions carried out by the government of the United States, or that have been perpetrated and sponsored from the territory of that country with the acquiescence of official U.S. authorities. We Cubans deplore with contempt every maneuver aimed at manipulating such a sensitive issue to achieve gross politically opportunist goals.