Cuba Denounces U.S. Manipulation of Terrorism

On April 30th, the State Department published its report of 2013, reiterating the absurd designation of Cuba as "a State Sponsor of Terrorism" for the 32nd occasion, said an official of the Cuban mission to the UN, Tanieris Dieguez.

In a forum of the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly, she said that Washington keeps Cuba on its list to justify the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on the Island for over half a century.

"And it does this despite not having any information about the supply of weapons or training by the Cuban government to extremist groups, and recognizing that Cuba supports and hosts the peace negotiations for Colombia", she said in the meeting focused on the elimination of international terrorism.

Regarding the issue discussed in the Committee of the Assembly, in charge of legal matters, Dieguez ratified Cuba's rejection of the "scourge in all its expressions, as well as its rejection of manipulation of such a sensitive issue."

In this regard, she demanded the definitive exclusion of Cuba from the list, which she termed "spurious, unilateral and arbitrary." She noted that for defending its independence and dignity, Cuba has suffered the consequences of terrorist actions organized, funded and executed from the United States -- killing 3,500 people and wounding 2,099 people.

The Cuban diplomat at the UN Mission in New York said the struggle against terrorism will only succeed if its causes are addressed in an organized way by the international community without violating the peoples' sovereignty.

She expressed Cuba's backing of the adoption of a general convention on terrorism and the holding of a UN-sponsored world conference to give coordinated answers to the scourge.

Edited by Ivan Martínez