The measure announced on Tuesday by Joe Biden’s administration was received with satisfaction by several countries, especially in Latin America, including Venezuela, Colombia, and Bolivia, as well as representatives of solidarity movements with Cuba.
The Bolivarian government of President Nicolás Maduro described the action of the United States as limited and maintained that such a designation should never have been applied to Cuba, and stressed the need to dismantle the blockade that has affected Cuban society for more than 60 years.
The head of state of Bolivia, Luis Arce, praised the US decision and stated that “reason, truth and justice have prevailed,” after the “unilateral, arbitrary and infamous inclusion (on the list) in 2021,” the dignitary assured on his X account.
The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, also celebrated the exclusion of Cuba from the list. The president considered that eliminating punitive measures, even partially, constitutes progress.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry also expressed gratitude to the Cuban people for their unrestricted support in the negotiation and dialogue processes necessary to achieve peaceful coexistence in Colombia. “Due to our firm conviction in multilateralism as a principle of international relations, we reject the imposition of sanctions and unilateral measures and therefore, together with other allied countries in the region, we support the efforts and requests for the sister Republic of Cuba to be excluded from this list,” added the note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty welcomed the news and praised “the elimination by the US government of two other unilateral coercive measures.” According to the bloc, despite the limited nature of the decision, it “goes in the right direction and lined with the sustained and firm claim of Cuba” and of numerous international actors, while favoring Cuba on its sovereign path of development.”
In the United States, the National Network on Cuba (NNOC) reaffirmed its commitment to fight against the blockade and noted the efforts of solidarity to achieve the result made public on Tuesday by the Biden administration. The co-president of the NNOC, Cheryl LaBash, told Prensa Latina that “When we fight, we win!”, referring to the “many resolutions that represent more than 60 million people in the United States – municipal councils, state legislatures, unions – who made their voices heard.”
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