Eighteen former presidents and former prime ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean asked this Wednesday the US president, Joe Bidenthe lifting of sanctions against Cuba in the midst of the current crisis that the Island is going through, reports international press media.
“The Cuban people are experiencing enormous difficulties in supplying medicines, the arrival of humanitarian aidthe restrictions imposed on financial services, the arrival of tourists and third-party investments,” the former presidents lamented in a joint letter, which the agency cites EFE.
Among the signatories are names such as the Colombian Juan Manuel Santos, the Uruguayan José Mújica, the Bolivian Evo Morales and the Brazilian Dilma Rousseff, as well as former presidents Ernesto Samper (Colombia), Martín Torrijos (Panama), Rafael Correa (Ecuador). , Vinicio Cerezo (Guatemala) and Leonel Fernández (Dominican Republic), points out the Spanish media.
In their letter, the Latin American leaders pointed out the “limitations on travel, the sending of remittances, and donations from the United States” as elements that generate a “harmful” impact “not only for those who inhabit the island but for the Cuban-American people whom they he is denied the right to visit his relatives.”
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The letter also called for the removal of the Island from the list of countries considered sponsors of terrorism by the US government, given its “support for the peace process in Colombia with the National Liberation Army (ELN)” and its commitment to “compliance of the protocols signed with the Colombian State,” says EFE.
Cuba was once again part of that list in January 2021, under the administration of Republican Donald Trumpafter his refusal to extradite members of the ELN guerrilla who negotiated peace in Havana, after a bomb attack against a police academy in Bogotá in 2019 that left 22 dead.
Former US President Barack Obama decided to remove the Caribbean country from this category in 2015 as the first step in the thaw of relations with the Island during his mandate, recalls the Spanish agency.
Following the request of the former Latin American presidents, the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, “profoundly” thanked the gesture in a message on his Twitter profile and considered that it is “an act of friendship and honesty that moves the Cuban people.” .
I deeply thank former presidents and former Latin American and Caribbean prime ministers who ask the President of the United States to remove #Cuba from the terrorist list and lift blockade restrictions. It is an act of friendship and honesty that moves the Cuban people.#BestNoBlock pic.twitter.com/Pgkzlo385e
– Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) November 2, 2022
In addition to the “unfreezing” of the sanctions on Havana, the writers of the letter called for “not to return to the world of the pre-pandemic” which, in the case of the Island, is aggravated by the devastating impact that the Hurricane Ian in Cuban territory.
This atmospheric phenomenon recently crossed western Cuba and left considerable material damage, especially in agriculture, and housing infrastructure, electrical service and communications, in addition to causing the death of three people, who were joined by another two by an accident during recovery work.
In an unprecedented step in the history of the complex relations between the governments of Cuba and the United States, the northern nation decided to send emergency aid to the island to alleviate the damage caused by the hurricane, valued at 2 million dollars.
EFE / OnCuba
