Ivan Duque, former President of Colombia
Before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Colombian President Gustavo Petro revealed an uncomfortable truth about Cuba’s inclusion on the White House list of countries “sponsors of terrorism.” said: “What happened to Cuba is an injustice. That’s called injustice, so I don’t think it’s up to us, it needs to be corrected.”
Why was Gustavo Petro interested in proving such a truth to those in charge of Washington’s foreign policy? Because both he and the Colombian people have every reason to affirm that Cuba has been a key player in the process of ending the armed conflict in this Andean country and in solidarity in the fight against internal terrorism.
Because before the start of the peace talks between the FARC-EP guerrillas and the Colombian government, the Republic of Cuba, together with the Norwegian government and the United Nations Organization, offered to be the guarantor of the negotiations. Havana was the scene of the November 2016 meeting and subsequent signing of the pacification agreement between then-President Juan Manuel Santos and the chief negotiator of the guerrilla forces, Rodrigo Londoño, with the former Secretary-General of the UN. Ban Ki-moon as a witness.
Likewise, since 2018, Cuba has been one of the guarantee countries of the peace talks between the Colombian government and the other guerrilla in that country, the National Liberation Army, which also has Havana as the headquarters of the negotiations. In addition to this country, Norway, Chile, Venezuela and Ecuador are participating.
In this regard, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez confirmed his country’s support for the Colombian dialogues.
“Cuba’s position regarding the internal armed conflict in Colombia is principled and widely recognized. Our country has supported and will continue to support the initiatives presented for a negotiated political solution,” he said in the presence of Colombian Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva; the representative of the UN Secretary-General in Colombia, Carlos Ruiz Massieu; Jon Otto Brodholt, representative of Norway; Iván Danilo Rueda, High Commissioner for Peace and other representatives.
Álvaro Leyva, for his part, confirmed to the press the Colombian government’s refusal to classify Cuba as a “sponsor of terrorism”. He said that with this qualification “an attempt was made to ignore his commitment to peace in Colombia and the world”.
The attempt at peace with the ELN resumed following the promotion of Gustavo Petro to the Nariño Palace after former President Iván Duque unilaterally broke down talks in January 2019. But the manner in which he broke them and his allegations willfully paid for Cuba’s ratification in Blinken’s arbitrary and one-sided list of countries “sponsors of terrorism” of January 12, 2021, as he accused La Havana of covering up terrorism guerrillas , whose delegation is waiting for negotiations on the island.
Why did the deposed duke make such accusations? These occurred after the ELN attack on the headquarters of the Santander Department General Police School on January 14, 2019. Then, Iván Duque broke up the peace talks that were taking place in Havana and demanded that the Cuban government extradite the “terrorists”. However, the international legal protocols agreed by the parties to resolve domestic armed conflicts contradicted the outburst of anger by the then Colombian president, who accused Cuba of “hosting terrorists” at the refusal.
For Iván Duque (and for the White House), the comments made by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla on the attack did not count. On his behalf, the Cuban government condemned “acts of terrorism”.
He said Cuba was “against terrorism, war and in defense of peace” because it “has been a victim of state terrorism for several decades and condemns all such demonstrations, regardless of their motives.” He also added that he would not allow his territory to be used for “organizing terrorist attacks against any state”.
Similarly, the Cuban State issued a statement in which it “sends its condolences to the government, the Colombian people and especially the families of the victims of the attack that occurred in Bogotá today and commends all actions, methods and terrorists to Cuba rejects and condemns practices in all their forms and manifestations, regardless of their motivation.”
The Duque administration issued injunctions against members of the ELN and demanded the extradition of the Havana-based delegation to Cuba during the remainder of his administration. But not only did the island refuse under the agreed protocols, but its position was supported by the Kingdom of Norway, whose representation declared that “as a mediator and consistent guarantor, Norway must fulfill its obligations”.
The United States government took note of the demands of its Colombian ally. For example, when the Donald Trump administration put Cuba on its 2020 list as a country allegedly not cooperating in the fight against terrorism, former Bogotá “peace” delegate Miguel Ceballos celebrated a note he expressed his “support” added” to the “Maduro regime”. The Iván Duque presidency took this as Washington’s “back” to their demands and weary crusade against “Castrochavism”.
But Duke didn’t stop there. After the Cuban ambassador to Colombia, José Luis Ponce, sent a memorandum to the home of Nariño on February 9, 2021 warning of another possible ELN attack in Bogotá, the government of Iván Duque issued one two days later message that Cuba announced. the request from the State of Colombia for precise information on possible facts, dates or conditions as to when, how and where the Cuban Government may learn about the alert it has sent regarding a possible terrorist attack by the ELN in Bogotá.
The tone and meaning of the text attempted to make Cuba an accomplice in the actions of the ELN. For example, then-Colombian Foreign Minister Claudia Blum bluntly asserted that the Havana-based guerrilla commando “is responsible for carrying out the instructions issued by the national leadership of the ELN,” to which the group clarified “that the information received is from the Cuban embassy in Bogotá not part of the ELN’s military plans”.
So you can see the intent of Iván Duque’s government to thwart the peace talks with the ELN, while also joining in their rabid opposition to Cuban socialism.
Chance? No way. Following the revelations in Raya magazine, Colombian and US intelligence agencies hatched plans to spy on the Cuban diplomatic mission in the Andean country, thereby contributing to the dirty political and media war against the island. So much so, that they went so far as to plant evidence on an ELN commander’s computer to frame Cuban embassy officials as agitators for the protests that rocked the country in April 2021. Of course, this lineup could not be sustained.
But adding Cuba to the infamous list of “sponsors of terrorism” is nothing more than a ruse the White House devises year after year to prolong a pretext to justify the trade and economic blockade that has been in place for more than sixty years years there is tax against the island. A blockade to which are added the 243 measures related to the Torricelli Act and the Helms-Borton Act that Trump applied and which Biden did not remove.
And just like Trump and the presidents before him, Joe Biden must add Cuba to that shameful list in order to please the voice of the Cuban-American mafia planted in the crucial state of Florida; especially now that the general election is coming up later this year and the Democratic Party is about to lose positions to the Republicans.
The purpose of the blockade is explained in a statement dated April 6, 1960 by the then Assistant Undersecretary for Inter-American Affairs of the United States government, Lester D. Mallory, who said that this measure is aimed at “depriving the country of material and financial resources Means of generating and attaining devotion out of hunger, suffering and despair. In short, continue the war against the Cuban Revolution.
(Adopted from Hispanicla)