Colombian President Gustavo Petro declared that having Cuba in this status as a country that promotes terrorism is “an international injustice”.
President Gustavo Petro highlighted Cuba’s role in resuming negotiations with the ELN. (Photo: Javier Barragán / Semana Magazine).
President Gustavo Petro joined the voices this Thursday calling on the United States government to remove Cuba from the list of countries that promote terrorism, a status to which the island was added by order of former President Donald Trump .
The statement by the Colombian head of state was made after learning of a letter signed by 80 Colombian congressmen from progressive parties, particularly the Historic Pact, calling on the Joe Biden administration to remove Cuba from this “blacklist”. to brush.
The letter, sent on Sept. 21, is addressed to United States Vice President Kamala Harris, alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and United Nations General Assembly President Csaba Korösi.
In this regard, Petro declared that having Cuba in this status as a country that promotes terrorism is “an international injustice”.
The Colombian President explained that during the peace talks with the ELN in the Santos government “with good will” Cuba offered to serve as a negotiating venue and some protocols were signed.
“But later, when the Duque administration decided to sabotage the Santos-led peace process during Donald Trump’s administration, they blamed Cuba for the fact that it had offered to host the negotiations and they put it on that list,” explained Petro.
The head of state assured: “We have resumed these negotiations, we have resumed the protocols.”
Because of this, he called on the Joe Biden administration to remove Cuba from this list so that “this international injustice will end.”
“We call on the United States government to end this injustice committed between the Duque administration and Trump, because the only thing Cuba did was to offer a space for a peace process to be completed,” Petro said.
In doing so, the Colombian President joins the call of the 80 Colombian members of Congress, who “are concerned that a country that has for years been a guarantor of the peace agreements in Colombia is being described by the United States government as a country that commits terrorism encourages. Joined”.
In the letter, alternative party MPs add: “Cuba has shown itself to be a friendly state to the Colombian people, through its support for building peace in our country and in various areas of social development such as health and education”.
The communication also makes clear that the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has reaffirmed his will to continue working for peace and to this end has offered his country as an alternative venue for talks on the peace process, noting the ELN his experience as guarantor of the agreement between the FARC guerrillas and the government of Juan Manuel Santos also makes a contribution.
“The inclusion of Cuba in the list of countries that promote international terrorism has led to the exclusion of any possibility of financing on the world market, which increases the shortcomings and difficulties in Cuban society’s access to basic resources,” reads in the writing.
They immediately added that being blacklisted by the United States “is an unfair statement that threatens not only the human rights of the Cuban people, but at the same time peace efforts in our country.”
The letter has already provoked reactions. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said: “Deep gratitude to the more than 80 Colombian congressmen for this initiative demanding that #Cuba be removed by the US government from the list of states that support terrorism where it never would have been.” may be. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to peace in #Colombia.”
