Madrid/The Cuban Government was quick to react to its early return to the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, one of the dozens of decisions made by Donald Trump in his first hours in the Presidency of the United States.
“President Trump, in an act of arrogance and disregard for the truth, has just reinstated the fraudulent designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. Not surprising. “Its objective is to continue strengthening the cruel economic war against Cuba for the purposes of domination,” wrote Miguel Díaz-Canel. on social networkwhose owner, Elon Musk, is precisely part of the new American Executive.
“The result of the extreme economic blockade measures imposed by Trump has been to cause shortages in our people and a significant increase in the migratory flow of Cuba towards the United States,” continued the president, who did not hesitate to describe the measure as “mockery” and “abuse.” In his opinion, this “confirms the discredit of the lists and unilateral coercive mechanisms of the US Government. The legitimate and noble cause of our people will prevail and will once again win.
“The result of the extreme economic blockade measures imposed by Trump has been to cause shortages in our people and a significant increase in the migratory flow from Cuba to the United States”
Barely ten minutes after these messages – at 8:35 in the afternoon – the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, posted on your profile very similar words. “Drunk with arrogance, President Trump decides without reason that Cuba sponsors terrorism. He knows he LIES (sic.). Their efforts are to increase punishment and the economic war against Cuban families. It will cause harm, but it will not break the firm resolve of our people. We will win.”
The Foreign Minister also pronounced regarding other decisions made by Trump in his first hours as president. “Trump’s decisions regarding Cuba are added to new medieval measures and civilizational regression: supporting the Palestinian genocide, abandoning the climate change agreement, the WHO, hunting for emigrants, conquering territories and changing the map of the hemisphere at will,” stood out.
Membership on the list of states that sponsor terrorism implies, as specified by the State Department, “restrictions on foreign assistance from the United States, prohibition of exports and sales of weapons and defense elements, controls on exports of double-dealing items. use and various financial and other restrictions.” This means returning to the situation in which the Island was just seven days ago.
Furthermore, in January 2021, Donald Trump drew up a list of all the companies linked to the Cuban State – controlled by the military – with which the United States could not trade and which meant, among other things, the suspension of remittance shipments until Gaesa found, through Orbit SA, a way to continue doing so.
The State Department page contained the relationship It is now empty of content, although it is not possible to know if the reason is the renewal of the page, as is the case with all US Government websites at this time, which no longer show what concerns the previous Administration. It is foreseeable, in any case and given the circumstances, that there will be a review that facilitates the return of these and other companies to the list.
Also up in the air is the reactivation of title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which was also suspended by order of Joe Biden on January 14 but does not appear in the revoked yesterday by the White House. That point of the rule, suspended since its approval in 1996, had been activated (like IV) during Trump’s first term and paralyzed again last week by Biden’s decision. In any case, the action did not have much practical success since none of the lawsuits filed by the heirs of those who were confiscated after the triumph of the Revolution have been successful in the six years of judicial journey that some have been involved in.
Also up in the air is the reactivation of title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which was also suspended by order of Joe Biden on January 14 but does not appear in the revocation yesterday by the White House.
Since Joe Biden’s decision to remove Cuba from the list of states that sponsor terrorism emerged on the 14th, it was expected that Trump would reverse the measure sooner or later, even more so considering that the new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio had indicated his total disagreement with the measure.
The question that many are asking at this moment is whether the Cuban regime will stop with the releases, announced just after the executive order of the former president of the United States. So far, according to Justice 11J, 152 people imprisoned for political reasons have been released from prison, including some as popular as José Daniel Ferrer, Luis Robles or Félix Navarro.
However, the Díaz-Canel Government at no time did he link the releases with US policy, but announced them as a measure of grace for the Jubilee and a gesture with the Vatican in the heat of Pope Francis’ good relations.
