The Cuban government, through Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, thanked a group of congressmen from Colombia that they asked the United States to remove the Island from the controversial list of State sponsors of terrorism.
The request had been announced on Twitter by Gloria Flórez, a Colombian senator for the ruling Social Historical Pact, who co-signed the extension of said request to Vice President Kamala Harris, and Nancy Pelosi, president of the House of Representatives of the US Congress.
In response on the social network itself, the Cuban Foreign Minister, who is in New York to participate in the UN General Assembly, showed the “profound gratitude” of the Antillean authorities to the more than 80 Colombian congressmen for this initiative.
Deep gratitude to the more than 80 Colombian congressmen for this initiative, requesting that #Cuba be removed from the list of State sponsors of terrorism by the US government, where it should never have been.
We ratify our invariable commitment to peace in #Colombia. https://t.co/OmD2okCBu6
– Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) September 21, 2022
In his Twitter profile, Rodríguez ratified the island’s commitment to peace in Colombia and added that Cuba “should never have been” on said list, to which it returned in 2021 under the administration of Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021).
At that time, Washington alluded to Havana’s refusal to extradite members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas, who traveled to the Caribbean nation to hold negotiations with the Colombian government, notes the EFE agency, which recalls that the Biden Administration has kept Cuba —along with Venezuela— on the list.
However, although the measure was supported by the government of former Colombian President Iván Duque, the new executive of the leftist Gustavo Petro has rejected this designation of a country sponsor of terrorism for Cuba, as has the ELN.
ELN sees as an “outrage” that the United States calls Cuba a sponsor of terrorism
“One of the pillars of President Gustavo Petro’s government is the consolidation of Total Peace for Colombia. In this sense, we see with concern that a country that has been a guarantor of the peace agreements in Colombia for years, has been called a country that sponsors terrorism by the Government of the United States”, indicates the letter sent by the Colombian congressmen to Harris and Pelosi.
In addition, the congressmen point out that the arguments used for that designation are not supported and point out that Cuba has proven to be a friendly State of the Colombian people, through its support for the construction of peace in that country and in various fields of social development, according to review the Cuban News Agency (ACN).
The arrival of Gustavo Petro to the Presidency of Colombia reactivated the peace negotiations with the ELN, which could formally begin in “weeks”, according to “Pablo Beltrán”, one of the leaders of the guerrilla group, in a recent interview with EFE.
The dialogues, the agency recalls, were paralyzed in 2019, after barely a year of contacts, by decision of Duque, as a result of the ELN attack against the Cadet School in Bogotá, which left 22 dead and 68 injured.
EFE / OnCuba
