New Delhi, Jan 27 (Prensa Latina) Indian journalist Ullekh N.P., author of the book “Mad About Cuba, a Malayali Revisits the Revolution”, described the decision to return Cuba to the list of state sponsors of terrorism as an immoral act by the United States.

Speaking to Prensa Latina, the writer said he was not surprised by the decision of the new US government, which he also considered an extreme injustice, and recalled that President Donald Trump reversed all the policies of normalization of ties between Cuba and the United States initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama during his first term in office. Then, towards the end of his first term in 2020, he put Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism to win votes in the state of Florida, the center of anti-Cuban politics in the United States.

Ullekh said that such measures against the Cuban people show that the ghost of Lester Mallory, who wrote the infamous 1960 Cuba memo, is still haunting the White House.

The journalist pointed out that Mallory, who was then Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, was the architect of the modus operandi that the United States continues to employ in its relations with Cuba to strangle the island’s economy. His doctrine was aimed at attacking the extremely popular Cuban leaders; for him, the only way to get rid of that support was to ensure that the people went through hardships, including hunger, so as to force them to rebel against the Cuban leadership out of desperation.

The Indian journalist also stressed that in the United States, Cuba’s policy moves a lot of money from various federal programs to promote political change in the island, which was the original objective outlined by Lester Mallory.

For Ullekh, most Americans have no idea about the policies applied by the United States against Cuba with taxpayers’ money, such as the blockade, which has received an overwhelming rejection by the international community in the United Nations General Assembly 34 times. It is an immoral act on Trump’s part to put Cuba back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, he stressed.

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Buenos Aires, Jan 27 (Prensa Latina) The Union of Cuban Residents in Argentina (URCA) has reaffirmed its support for the revolutionary process in the Caribbean nation and demanded the end of aggressions perpetrated by the United States.

During a meeting in this capital, the organization welcomed the joining of new members, the 66th anniversary of the revolutionary triumph on January 1, 1959, and the 172nd birthday of Cuban National Hero Jose Marti (1853-1895).

Erenia Garcia, representing URCA, advocated for strengthening a space of unity and commitment that continues to defend the homeland’s ideals from abroad.

The Revolution is a transformative process that, since 1959, has marked the beginning of a new stage of social justice, sovereignty, and dignity for our people. It has taught us that freedom is not to be begged for but to conquer with courage and sacrifice, Garcia affirmed.

We renew our commitment to accompany our country in its dignified struggle and denounce the inhuman policies implemented against it.

Participants also demanded the end of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade that the United States has imposed on Cuba for more than six decades and called for Cuba’s removal from Washington’s State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list.

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Havana, Jan 24 (RHC) U.S. Senator Peter Welch expressed his dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump’s decision to reclassify Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in his first executive order.

The Vermont Democrat warned that once again, just like during his first term, Trump faced pressure from the same minority who believed that by making the lives of the Cuban people as miserable as possible, they would bring about the downfall of the government.

During a parliamentary session, Welch emphasized that Cuba should not be included in the list of countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism, and by reinstating it on that list, the president has disregarded the law.

He pointed out that, in his final week in office, President Joe Biden removed Cuba from the list of Special Security-Related Sanctions, which had been imposed by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the final days of the first Trump administration (2017-2021).

The senator stated that this classification has created significant challenges for the Cuban people, both directly and indirectly. He also argued that Biden correctly assessed that there is no proof of Cuba’s involvement in international terrorism.

He noted that the response from those who support the designation of terrorism was as expected, and stressed that if the facts and the law supported this statement, he would agree. However, this decision has become a political one, not based on facts or the law.

On January 14, as his term was drawing to a close, Biden took a belated but necessary action by implementing certain measures regarding Cuba, including removing it from the list of countries subject to unilateral sanctions.

During his first term in office, Trump pursued a strategy of intense pressure on Cuba and implemented 243 additional measures that further strengthened the embargo.

On January 12, 2021, just eight days before leaving the White House, the Republican once again added Cuba to the list of countries allegedly sponsoring terrorism, which it had not been on since 2015, when then-President Barack Obama had removed it.

(Source: Prensa Latina)

Havana, January 21 (Radio Habana Cuba) — Cuba today maintains its determination not to give in and to continue fighting, despite the island’s reinstatement on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism and other interventionist actions against it.

This was stated yesterday by the highest authorities of the Caribbean nation, who considered that the designation of their country on the unilateral list seeks to intensify the economic war unleashed by the United States.

In this regard, President Miguel Díaz-Canel stressed that the measure of his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump is an act of arrogance and contempt, which is not surprising and has the purpose of domination.

From the social network X, he denounced that the action is also a mockery and abuse that confirms the discredit of the lists and unilateral mechanisms of coercion of the United States government.

On that platform, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez described this and the other new measures of Washington as “medieval and a regression of civilization.”

He pointed out that “drunk with arrogance, President Trump decides without reason that Cuba sponsors terrorism.  He knows he is lying.  His effort is to increase the punishment and the economic war against Cuban families.”

Meanwhile, the head of the National Assembly of People’s Power (Parliament), Esteban Lazo, pointed out that Trump’s decision “is contrary to the sustained and firm claim of the Cuban people and the vast majority of the international community.”

The Secretary of Organization of the Communist Party of Cuba, Roberto Morales, spoke in a similar way, who assured that the largest of the Antilles will continue to battle “against that and all the demons that come from the new US administration.”

On Monday, Trump revoked the order issued just six days ago by his predecessor, Joe Biden, which excluded Cuba from the unilateral list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

The measure is one of several that the newly inaugurated president has taken in his first hours in office, related to Biden’s orders and actions that he had considered harmful, and which he has begun to get rid of through a series of executive orders.

On January 14, Biden made his decision, albeit late, that Cuba “should no longer be designated as a State sponsor of terrorism.”

He also issued a waiver for Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, also known as the Liberty Act, for a period of six months and rescinded National Security Presidential Memorandum 5 of 2017 on policy towards Cuba to eliminate the so-called restricted list.

Cuba was designated by Washington as a “state sponsor of terrorism” in January 2021, in one of Trump’s last actions before concluding his first term. 

[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA ]