In statements to the program Líder de Opinión, on the radio station KW Continente, the diplomat explained that at the time, when on January 14, then-President Joe Biden removed Cuba from the unilateral list, the gesture was considered a late act, but in the right direction.

Six days later, the decision of the current US president Donald Trump to revoke that decision and re-include Cuba on the spurious list, he said, is a sign that its purposes are political, brings with it new sanctions and implications for third countries, which should be questioned for lack of legitimacy, he added.

Cuba has been a victim of terrorism, he said, citing as one of the examples the actions of the notorious terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, now deceased, in November 2000 when he tried to detonate the auditorium of the University of Panama during an event in which a delegation from the island headed by the leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, was participating.

Regarding the policy of the current US government and the recent visit to the region by its Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, the representative of the largest of the Antilles commented that this journey was riddled with lies, such as claiming that Cuba is an enemy of humanity.

Quite the opposite, he said, because Cuba has humbly collaborated with its doctors to improve the quality of life in countless countries, and its contribution to literacy campaigns and to confronting the Covid-19 pandemic has also been decisive.

Cairo thanked the Panamanian people for all their support in the cause of confronting Washington’s hostile policy.

In addition, he expressed his brotherhood, solidarity and ratified his country’s support for the sovereignty of Panama throughout its territory and in particular the Canal.

It is an issue, he estimated, that is part of the historical heritage of our region in the struggles of Latin America and the Caribbean against colonialism.

Cuba was included for the first time in the list of States sponsoring terrorism in 1982, during the administration of Republican Ronald Reagan until, in 2015, the then Democratic President Barack Obama withdrew such designation considering that it lacked merit.

But Trump re-included Cuba in that list eight days before leaving the executive mansion in 2021, in accordance with the policy of maximum pressure that he maintained against the island in his first term.

ef/ro/ga