Cuba rejects inclusion on US terrorism sponsor list
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Cuba Thursday denounced the US action to include it on the list of state sponsors of terrorism and demanded its immediate removal, local press reported.
"I strongly reject the inclusion of Cuba on the list of states sponsoring international terrorism. It is a politically motivated act of injustice and hypocrisy," Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, who is currently visiting Brasilia, was quoted as saying.
"The US government deliberately lied; they have all the information confirming that those who have written this spurious report lied deliberately for political reasons, and they act against the interests of the American and the Cuban people ... for purely domestic political reasons," he said.
"Once again, the United States questions the seriousness of our commitment in the fight against international terrorism and maintains one of the most irrational aspects of their hostile policy against Cuba," said Josefina Vidal, director of the North America Department at Cuba's Foreign Ministry.
She said the United States maintains a double standard on terrorism because five Cuban anti-terrorists had been jailed there while Luis Posada Carriles and other confessed terrorists against Cuba remain at large.
The so-called "Five" were arrested in September 1998 in the US city of Miami while monitoring actions of anti-Cuba groups. They are considered "heroes" against terrorism in Cuba. Cuba claims they were there to prevent attacks on the island and did not pose any threat to US security.
The US State Department on Thursday released an annual report on international terrorism in which countries "giving crucial support to non-state terrorist groups" were categorized as "state sponsors of terrorism."
According to the report, countries like Sudan, Syria and Cuba continue to be "sponsors of terrorism," while Iran tops the black list.
The United States has conceded there is "no evidence of direct financing support for terrorist organizations by Cuba during 2009." However, it says Cuba continued to "provide refuge last year to members of the FARC, ELN and ETA, considered as terrorists by the US"
Countries labeled "sponsors of terrorism" cannot receive financial support from the United States or enjoy the commercial benefits of financial agreements.
