The people of the Caribbean were pleased with and gratified by the 14th of January 2025 decision of the Joseph Biden administration of the United States of America (USA) to issue a certification of rescission of the Republic of Cuba’s unjust and illegitimate designation by the US State Department as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
The decision to remove Cuba from the US State Department’s unilaterally composed list was considered by the Caribbean people to be a victory for International Law and a demonstration of respect for the rights, interests and wellbeing of the nation and people of Cuba.
Indeed, the Caribbean’s major indigenous multilateral organization -CARICOM- hailed the decision as “a step in the right direction” and urged the government of the USA to go further and remove the equally illegal and destructive financial, economic and trade embargo that the USA has imposed on Cuba over the past 63 years.
However, to the dismay of the entire Caribbean region, less than one week later, the newly installed administration of President Donald Trump not only reinstated Cuba on the US State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, but also revoked the suspension of the filing of law suits in US Courts under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, and reinstated the USA’s List of Restricted Cuban Entities with which entities or persons in the USA are prohibited from carrying out transactions.
And this was subsequently followed by Trump’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, purporting to impose illegal punitive sanctions on any person involved in facilitating the work of Cuba’s world famous and highly regarded Medical Brigades.
The sole purpose of the retrogressive reinstatement of these destructive measures within the context of the continuance of other components of the embargo is to intimidate foreign investors, close off possible sources of external income for Cuba, subvert the capacity of Cuban entities to produce goods and services, and to ravage the living standards and quality of life of the Cuban people.
The people of the Caribbean consider that these actions and the ignoble purpose that they are designed to achieve do a disservice not only to the quality of inter-state relations within the hemisphere of the Americas, but also to the interests, image and reputation of the USA.
The Caribbean people would like to remind the USA that on an annual basis over the past thirty years the leaders of an overwhelmingly large number of the nations of the world have voted at the United Nations General Assembly to condemn the US embargo against Cuba as a violation of International Law and to demand its immediate termination.
The Caribbean people urge the government of the USA to respect the near unanimous will of the international community and to adhere to its obligations under the United Nations charter.
The government of the USA is under a clear legal obligation to terminate its financial, economic and trade embargo against Cuba and to also remove Cuba from the US State Department’s List of State Sponsors of Terrorism.