– Oscar Sánchez Serra, Granma –
(Translated by NEPH from granma.cu)
The spurious list of the United States fails to recognize that Cuba has signed 19 international agreements to combat terrorism, that it has never used its territory to organize such actions, and has never financed them. It also fails to recognize that Cuba has been a victim of this scourge
I have a friend who, due to his job as a security agent, takes advantage of my arrival in the early hours of the morning, after my daily work, to discuss a wide range of topics from the information spectrum. Gustavo has an Anglo-Saxon surname (Fischer) and the same name as a world chess champion, although he has nothing to do with either of those things.
“Can you tell me how it makes sense that the country accusing us of sponsoring terrorism sits at the same table with us to combat that scourge?” In this clear expression of popular speech, he openly showed his disbelief, which I understood as discontentment.
I had read the news article that reported on a technical meeting on cooperation to combat terrorism, including the hijacking of aircraft and maritime vessels, and the use of digital networks for violent purposes, which took place in Havana between April 27 and 28, the latter being the most recent date. The U.S. side was represented by officials from the Departments of Justice, State, Homeland Security and the Embassy in Cuba. On the Cuban side, representatives from the Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Attorney General’s Office and the General Customs of the Republic, attended the meeting.
I told him that the “story” of being a sponsor of terrorism goes much further, that it is politically motivated, or in other words, it is included as a cornerstone of the attacks by that government against the Cuban people and their Revolution.
According to Section 2656f(a) of Title 22 of the United States Code, the document aims to determine the state sponsors of terrorism, which are subject to four types of sanctions: arms export and sales bans, controls on exports of dual-use items that require a 30-day congressional notification for goods or services that could enhance the country’s military capability or support terrorism, and, pay attention: prohibitions on economic assistance and financial restrictions.
The arbitrary, spurious, and unilateral list was first published during James Carter’s presidency in the White House in 1979. At that time, Libya, Iraq, South Yemen and Syria were included. Since then, coincidentally or curiously, the United States has invaded or supported internal conflicts in Libya, Iraq, South Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan. It is worth noting that Afghanistan, even though it has not been on the terrorist catalogue, has been targeted by the administration that created the list because it does not recognize the Taliban as a legitimate and sovereign government.
Cuba appeared on the illegitimate imperial list in 1982, during Ronald Reagan’s era, just when hostilities and the desire to subjugate the largest of the Antilles intensified through any means, including aggression. This is one of the consequences, arguably the most intentional one, of the report on that so-called “list,” as it aims to create consensus in public opinion to implement sanctions that could even lead to military intervention.
The largest island in the Caribbean, which does not sponsor any form of terrorism but combats it regardless of its origin, has been a victim of terrorism, including that sponsored and supported by the United States. Cuba remained on that list until Barack Obama, during his second presidential term, excluded it in 2015. However, before doing so, he stated that “Cuba has distanced itself from international terrorism; Cuba has strengthened its anti-terrorism laws, especially regarding money laundering and terrorist financing; Cuba has facilitated negotiations between the FARC and the Colombian government; while members of ETA reside in Cuba, they have not been allowed to engage in terrorist activities; there are fugitives from U.S. justice in Cuba, and although Cuba denies returning several of them, it has increased cooperation with the United States in recent years.”
Obama, although he removed Cuba from the list, followed the same pattern as his predecessors, albeit using less aggressive language. Then came Donald Trump, who was determined to sever any relationship with the island, weaving a fabric of hostility and hatred. In 2017, the Presidential Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Towards Cuba was issued, severely restricting the entry of foreign currency to achieve economic suffocation. During the 72nd session of the United Nations, Cuba was described as a “corrupt and destabilizing regime.”
Not satisfied with this arbitrary stance, in 2019, Trump claimed that the largest of the Antilles “maintains close collaboration with state sponsors of terrorism,” although he did not include it on the list. However, peace talks between the Colombian government and the ELN were canceled, followed by an attack on the Santander Cadet School in Bogotá. The executive led by Iván Duque broke the agreement and demanded the return of ELN members who were in Cuba. Cuba acted in accordance with the protocols.
Just nine days before his term ended, on January 11, 2021, Trump decided to include our country in the unjust list, based on the pretext of Colombia’s claims.
Biden continued what the Republican did, using the same argument, and disregarded the fact that the current Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, resumed peace negotiations with the ELN and deactivated the extradition process to promote that dialogue initiative.
* * *
A simple glance at the sanctions imposed by US administrations on countries listed in that document is a portrait of the aggression Cuba is currently facing: credit blockades in the World Bank and similar institutions, allowing lawsuits against them in U.S. courts for civil damages to families of terrorism victims, denial of tax deductions for wages earned in those countries, elimination of duty-free imports from those countries and the possibility of prohibiting U.S. citizens from engaging in financial relationships with those countries…
“So, how can the accuser and the accused sit at the same table?” Fischer reiterated, as any Cuban would.
The very fact that this exchange is taking place is one of the clearest expressions of the Cuban government’s commitment in the fight against this scourge, and its determination to take all necessary steps to combat its perpetrators. I reminded him that the very article he read makes it clear that this exchange does not “contradict the absolute rejection of the list issued by the Department of State on this matter.”
The designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism disregards the 19 international agreements it has signed related to the fight against this scourge. It ignores that Cuban territory has never been used to organize terrorist actions against any country and that Cuba has not participated in any form of financing such actions. Cuba has a track record of bilateral cooperation that includes the repatriation of terrorists, even in recent years. Additionally, due to this absurd classification of the Caribbean nation, the United States prohibits Cubans from accessing the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).
The purpose behind that label is to intensify the economic warfare against Cuba and further the spurious objective of labeling it as a failed state. However, the world is not easily deceived and loudly demands the exclusion of the largest of the Antilles from this concoction, based on the way Cuba has dedicated itself to world peace.
For Cuba, there is only one position, and it was expressed by the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, in December 2022, at the same site where the homeland was wounded by the terrorist claws of the empire in Barbados. There, where the first act of that kind against a civilian aircraft in mid-flight occurred, resulting in the deaths of 73 people, he said: “I reaffirm Cuba’s firmest condemnation of terrorism, of which we have been victims… We denounce, at every platform that allows us to do so, that the same hatred of those who ensured impunity for terrorists drives those who, in an unacceptable offense to the victims, continue to cause pain to Cuba by putting its name on a spurious list of terrorism sponsors.”