The City Council of the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, demanded the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and the Congress, to remove Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, where it was unjustly included.
In a letter addressed to the director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Julie Chávez Rodriguez, the activists recounted how since 1960 Washington imposed an economic, commercial and financial blockade against the neighboring country.
In addition to impeding normal commercial relations with the North American nation, the text added, the siege implemented punishments for other States interested in interacting with the Antillean territory, and inflicted hardships and privations on the people.
It denounced that such punitive policy creates food and medicine shortages in the midst of a global health crisis, generates severe financial restrictions, limits trade opportunities, and prevents Cuba from obtaining vital medical equipment and supplies.
He also regretted that the administration of former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) destroyed the rapprochement experienced between the two countries during Barack Obama's term (2009-2017).
The Trump Administration not only arbitrarily reversed the achievements obtained previously and placed Cuba back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, it also imposed 243 new coercive measures, including restrictions on Cuban-Americans who send remittances to families and businesses to the island, he remarked.
He condemned the inclusion in the spurious list of the Antillean country, classification by which it endures a series of international financial restrictions that restrict its capacity to carry out important operations, including those necessary to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and dynamize its economy.
Cuba does not meet any criteria to be on that list, he said, and recalled that it can be removed by executive order of President Biden, who promised during his election campaign to review that designation.
Instead of maintaining failed policies of the past, it is time to seek a path forward in our relations that promotes our national interests and values, and improves the lives of the citizens of both countries, the activists urged.
Now, therefore, the Minneapolis City Council, recalling its unanimous 2021 resolution, urges President Biden and Congress, and every federal representative in their jurisdiction, to call on the administration to remove Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, they claimed.