Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denounced today that the United States appeals to slander to justify its aggressive policy against Cuba, and its domination interests in Latin America.
Through his Twitter account, the foreign minister lamented that decisions related to entire peoples are in the hands of ‘a foreign policy team that is dangerous, irresponsible and without credibility.
In that sense, he explained that ‘among the most infamous lies of senior U.S. officials is to mention the presence of Cuban troops in Venezuela, to call the more than 20,000 Cuban aid workers thugs in that country, and to accuse the island of invading and controlling it.
‘They are malicious slanders that I refute,’ Rodriguez emphasized.
Just before the Cuban president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, affirmed that the Helms-Burton law will not stop the march of the Cubans, despite its purpose of preventing the development of the island and attacking its sovereignty.
Through Twitter, the president pointed out that the main objective of the United States in applying it is to economically suffocate the largest of the Antilles, ‘attack the sovereignty of third countries, and destroy the Cuban Revolution.
Havana has repeatedly denounced Washington’s increased hostility against Latin American nations and the imposition of new sanctions on the island.
The Cuban government repudiates such actions and considers them a clear advance towards a course of confrontation, using as a spearhead the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed almost six decades ago.
On April 17, Donald Trump’s administration reinforced the siege with the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Law (in force since the previous day), with which it bets on economic suffocation as an instrument for regime change.
He also reported that he will increase restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba and limit the remittances sent by Cubans residing in that northern nation to their families.
As it was released today, US oil giant ExxonMobil is filing a lawsuit today against two Cuban companies as a result of Donald Trump’s government’s decision to apply the application of Title III of the controversial Helms-Burton Act.
Two legal news services, Law360 and Courthouse News, reported that the company filed law suits yesterday in federal court in Washington DC against Cimex Corporation SA, a Cuban state-owned business group; and the Cuba-Petroleum Union (Cupet).
The claim was filed on the same day the Trump administration activated the aforementioned legislative norm, which allows US nationals and companies to sue those who ‘traffic’ with ‘US properties’ in Cuba.
Through the lawsuit, ExxonMobil indicated that it has a claim certified by the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission for properties nationalized on the island, including oil refineries and service stations still in use today.
It specifically mentioned Cupet’s use of the Ñico Lopez refinery and certain terminals and plants used in conjunction with the operations of the facility.
The oil giant’s move followed two other lawsuits filed Thursday against Carnival Cruise Lines, located in the southern state of Florida, by claimants who identified themselves as ‘owners’ of the port of Santiago de Cuba and certain commercial real estate in the port of Havana.
In an interview with Prensa Latina, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, director general of the United States Office of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, recalled that in the same year in which the US Congress passed the Helms-Burton Act (1996), the Cuban Parliament passed a law that makes US regulations inapplicable on the island.
This is the Law of Reaffirmation of Cuban Dignity and Sovereignty or Law 80, which declared Helms-Burton illegal and without legal effect, so it considers null and void any claim under the law. (Periódico Digital Centroamericano y del Caribe)
