The MINREX issued an official Declaration rejecting the US Govermments

The Cuban Foreign Ministry (MINREX) issued an official Declaration rejecting the US Government’s recent inclusion of the Caribbean nation on a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

“The Cuban Foreign Ministry categorically rejects this new hostile action of the Government of the United States that derives from the inclusion of Cuba on the so-called list of state sponsors of terrorism for merely political reasons,” reads the statement published on Friday by Granma newspaper.

Press reports revealed last Monday, January 4th, that the US’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was putting into force new measures to tighten airport and airline security. According to the TSA, the measures – that include more rigorous screening, full-body pat-downs, body scans and hands-on luggage inspection - apply to all “passengers with passports from, or itineraries through, states sponsors of terrorism and countries of interest.”

The countries specified as sponsors of terrorism are Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria while countries considered prone to terrorism are Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Somalia, Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan.

The MINREX Declaration adds that on January 5th, confirmed the adoption of the measures that had already been implemented since the day before.

The document also rejects all the arguments used by the White House to include Cuba on the list and highlights Cuba’s efforts in the international fight against terrorism.

The statement also urges the US Government to act with determination and without double standards against those who, from US territory, have planned and carried out terrorist actions against Cuba. It also urges Washington to release the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters who remain unjustly imprisoned there since 1998.

It thus replied to control measures the US Transportation Security Administration began implementing on passengers from countries rated as "sponsors of international terrorism" by the US Department of State.

The document rejects the mechanism through which Washington arrogates the right to certify other nations' stance, and issues selective lists while adopting a doblu standard position by allowing those responsible for violent acts against Cuba remain free in its territory.

Meanwhile, Cuban anti-terrorists Gerardo Hernandez, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, and Rene Gonzalez are serving arbitrary, unfair sentences in US jails for warning on terror acts against Cuba.

Cuba, the declaration sustains, has always had a commendable role in the anti-terror fight, and ratifies the national territory has never been used, nor will be ever used to organize or execute violent acts against any country, including the US.

The Caribbean island is signatory of the 13 international deals on the anti-terror fight, and strictly complies with the obligations included in resolutions 1267, 1373, and 1540 of the UN Security Council.

The MINREX declaration urges the US government to act strongly and without doblu standards against those who have perpetrated terror acts against Cuba from US territory, as expression of its commitment with the fight against terrorism.

Cuba rejects inclusion on blacklist

The Cuban Interests Section in Washington assured this January 5 that the island government is cooperating in the international fight against terrorism, and it condemned its inclusion on the list of states described by the U.S. administration as sponsors of terrorism, EFE reports.

Alberto González, spokesman for the Cuban mission in Washington, stated that Cuba "has complied with, is complying with and will comply with the internationally recognized security measures in these cases," and he noted that the Cuban people "do not recognize in any way the moral authority of the U.S. government to certify their inclusion on this kind of list."

González unequivocally stated that "Cuban territory has never been utilized to organize, finance or execute acts of terrorism against the United States or any other state," and suggested that this latest attack on the island is politically motivated.

On the contrary, he continued, Cuba has been the victim of violence and terrorism on the part of individuals such as Luis Posada Carriles, who remains at large in the United States and has not been brought to justice.

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