On the stand, before the plenary session, he assured that, in addition, a president of his country – whom he did not mention, but it is Iván Duque (2018-2022) – suggested to him to include Cuba on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism “only because it (Cuba) had helped make peace in Colombia.”

This is how the Colombian president began his speech when remembering his recent visits to Chile to participate in the commemorations for the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état against the socialist government of Salvador Allende, and to Cuba, where he participated in the G77+China Summit.

After the end of the meeting in Havana, Petro asserted that the criminal consequence of Cuba’s inclusion on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism cannot be maintained because its basis is nothing but lies.

Therefore, on behalf of his government, he asked to remove Cuba from that spurious list prepared by the United States.

In his X account, the Colombian head of State explained that the inclusion resulted from Cuba’s decision to not hand over the peace negotiators as hostages, as the former president requested.

“The previous agreements signed in the form of protocols by the countries of Colombia, Cuba and Norway were betrayed. Today my government is negotiating peace with those same free ELN negotiators” Petro noted.

He stressed that the consequence of Duque’s betrayal of the word pledged by the Colombian Government is that today most of the medicines that need to be imported for save the lives of boys and girls cannot enter Cuba.

“It is a criminal consequence that cannot be maintained because its basis is nothing but lies. Innocent lives cannot continue to be lost due to the blind fundamentalism in favor of violence by a former president of Colombia,” he warned.

Petro warned that the United States Government must begin to close and heal the open wounds in history with Latin America.

“Removing Cuba from the list of countries that help terrorism is recovering the truth in our relations and the beginning of new dialogue to overcome the problems of our common America,” the dignitary remarked.

He pointed out that the country whose government requested to do such vileness to a country that has helped with peace in Colombia, now in the voice of his Government, requests to end that vileness.

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