BARBADOS wants the US to remove Cuba from its list of "State Sponsors of Terrorism"

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, June 14, 2024 -  The Republic of Barbados says it deplores the fact that Cuba’s continued unjust inclusion on the State Department’s List of State Sponsors of Terrorism continues to cause severe damage to the economy of Cuba and tremendous suffering to the Cuban people.

In a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Barbados “welcomed the news that the Government of the United States of America (USA) has removed the Republic of Cuba from the USA’s list of countries that are “not cooperating fully” in the USA’s fight against terrorism.”

Barbados notes, however, that the Republic of Cuba remains on the US State Department’s list of countries that have been deemed by the USA to be state sponsors of terrorism.

Barbados further notes that the damage caused to Cuba by its unjustified inclusion on the List of state sponsors of terrorism augments and amplifies the severe damage inflicted on Cuba by the USA’s now 62-year-old economic, commercial, and financial embargo.

The Barbados statement reiterated that “there was absolutely no justification for Cuba to have been placed on the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism back in January 2021. Equally, no such justification exists today.”

The CARICOM member state  urged that “both the designation as a state sponsor of terrorism and the 62-year-old embargo be terminated as a matter of urgency so that relief can be brought to the harsh conditions under which the Cuban people have had to endure.”

In the meantime, The Association of Caribbean States (ACS) has also reiterated its call for the removal of the unjust designation of Cuba as a State that sponsors terrorism, as agreed upon in their highest meeting of Heads of State and Government at the 9th Summit in La Antigua, Guatemala on May 12th, 2023.

The ACS considers the decision of the Government of the United States of America to remove the Republic of Cuba from the list of countries that do not fully cooperate with counter-terrorism efforts to be a positive step.

The sixty year old United States  economic blockade, designed to punish the Cuban people for their audacity to claim independence and establish a government under Fidel Castro's leadership, has bled the island nation of more than US$130 billion.

The U.S. sanctions, has intricately weaved through the fabric of Cuban life, significantly hampering access to essential goods and services, including medicine, food, and materials crucial for vaccine development, notably during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Beyond the direct impacts, the sanctions aim to suffocate Cuba’s economy, restricting travel and barring international businesses from engaging with Cuba if they wish to maintain trade relations with the United States. 

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