Declaration of the Minrex: Cuba is a safe, peaceful and healthy country.
Statements to the press of the Director General for the United States of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Josefina Vidal Ferreiro.
On the morning of January 9, a hearing was held in the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, organized by Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio and co-chaired by New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, both with a vast record of work against better relations between Cuba and the United States, and promoters of all kinds of legislative and political proposals that affect the interests of the Cuban and American peoples, and only benefit a minority more and more isolated that historically has profited from the aggression against Cuba.
From its own title "Attacks on US diplomats in Cuba," it was evident that the true purpose of this hearing, to which three high-ranking officials of the State Department were summoned, was not to establish the truth, but to impose by force and without any evidence an accusation that they have not been able to prove.
No one is surprised by the unfounded accusations or the fabrications of the anti-Cuban senators, whose only political agenda over the years has been to bring our two countries into a confrontation, without caring about the consequences. His total lack of scruples and credibility is recognized. The great victim of today's audience has been the truth.
For the Cuban government, the irresponsible statements made at the hearing by the Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the State Department, Francisco Palmieri, are unacceptable.
The Director of Medical Services Affairs at the State Department, Dr. Charles Rusentar, said there are a multitude of symptoms that are not attributable to a specific cause and that there is a lack of certainty about the causal agent.
The Deputy Director of International Programs of the Diplomatic Security Bureau, Toda Brown, said that experts have not been able to identify the cause or the perpetrator. And Mr. Palmieri repeatedly used the term attacks. It became clear that this is an unfounded accusation against Cuba.
The State Department does not have any evidence that allows it to affirm that there have been attacks against its diplomats in Havana, nor that Cuba may be responsible or have knowledge of the actions of third parties.
On the contrary, months of exhaustive investigations have shown that there has been no attack.
I reiterate categorically that the Cuban government has no responsibility for the health effects reported by US diplomats. Cuba has never perpetrated or perpetrated, nor allowed or permitted third parties to act against the physical integrity of any diplomat without exception.
The Cuban government is aware of its responsibilities and fulfills them in an exemplary manner.
Once again I affirm that the investigation carried out by the Cuban authorities, to whose results the State Department and the specialized agencies of the United States have had ample and systematic access, has shown that there is no evidence whatsoever about the occurrence of the alleged incidents and no attack of any kind has occurred.
Nothing contributed by the Government of the United States during this period and even today points to evidence that the health problems reported by the diplomats have their origin or cause in Cuba.