Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez speaks during a press conference at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Havana, on Sept 20, 2019. (PHOTO /AFP)
HAVANA — The Cuban government said Wednesday it is a victim of "terrorism organized, financed and executed" by the United States after Washington included Havana into the list of countries that "do not fully cooperate with the US counter-terrorism efforts."
"The United States added Cuba to the spurious list of countries (that do) not fully cooperate with its counter-terrorism efforts, but did not avoid and condemn the terrorist attack against our embassy in Washington," Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez tweeted.
The United States added Cuba to the spurious list of countries (that do) not fully cooperate with its counter-terrorism efforts, but did not avoid and condemn the terrorist attack against our embassy in Washington
Bruno Rodriguez, Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs
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The US Department of State said Wednesday that it has included Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Syria, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea into its list of countries that "do not fully cooperate" with its 2019 "counter-terrorism efforts" on the ground of the Arms Export Control Act.
On Tuesday, Havana denounced "the complicit and suspicious silence" of the United States after an armed attack against the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC on April 30.
READ MORE: Cuba calls attack on embassy terrorism; gunman heard voices
The decision by the US government prohibits the sale or license for the export of defense articles and services to the nations contained in the blacklist. It is the first time that Cuba was re-listed as a state sponsor of terrorism by Washington since it was removed in 2015 after having been placed on the terror list for 33 years.