“Brazil considers that this is an important step in the right direction and urges the US Government to exclude Cuba from its unilateral State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list as well, as a result of which, strong and unjustified sanctions are imposed on the Caribbean island,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It pointed out that “keeping Cuba on the SSOT list has been unanimously rejected by Latin America and the Caribbean.”

The press release from the Brazilian Foreign Ministry recalled that the regional position was shown in the special declaration approved at the latest summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), held in Kingstown, the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, in March, and by the vast majority of the international community.

At that summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also defended the end of the United States blockade against Cuba and condemned all unilateral sanctions without protection from International Law.

“Defending the end of the blockade against Cuba and Argentina’s sovereignty over the Malvinas (Faukland) islands is of interest to all of us,” Lula stated on the occasion.

He assured that “all forms of unilateral sanctions, without protection under international law, are counterproductive and penalize the most vulnerable,” he denounced.

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