According to Bruno Rodríguez, Trump’s measures “will lead to greater shortages, separation and increased emigration”

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, February 1, 2025 — The Cuban Foreign Ministry described this Friday as a “provocative act” Washington’s decision to reinstate and expand the Restricted List of Cuba, which bans transactions with companies linked to the regime. The head of Cuban diplomacy, Bruno Rodríguez, said that Donald Trump’s government promotes “irresponsible scenarios of confrontation” with Havana.
Regarding the decisions announced by the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, Rodríguez said that they are “deceptive pretexts with which he intends to justify the unjustifiable,” alluding to the increase in sanctions against the regime.
Rubio approved this Friday the reinstatement of the “black list” that bans commercial exchanges with companies under the control of the Cuban Armed Forces, State Security or other military or counterintelligence organizations. For Rodríguez, the announcement is “gratuitous abuse” and a “criminal measure,” which “will cause greater shortages, increased emigration and separation.”
Rubio explained that he is re-issuing the list “to deny resources to the same branches of the regime that directly oppress and monitor the Cuban people
For his part, Rubio explained in his statement that he is re-issuing the list “to deny resources to the same branches of the Cuban regime that directly oppress and monitor the Cuban people while controlling large sectors of the country’s economy.”
He stressed that in addition to putting back the companies that were already on that list until the last week of the Biden Administration, he has added Orbit, “a remittance processing company that operates for or on behalf of the Cuban military.”
“The State Department holds the Cuban regime responsible for oppressing its people and rejects Cuba’s evil interference in the Americas and around the world,” he said. Rubio also recalled that on January 20, in the first hours of Donald Trump’s second term, the latter revoked the decision of his predecessor to remove Cuba from the US list of states promoting terrorism.
Miguel Díaz-Canel also reacted to Washington’s announcements about its policy towards the regime
Miguel Díaz-Canel also reacted to Washington’s announcements about its upcoming policy towards the regime. This Friday, he defined Trump’s decision to use the US naval base in Guantánamo to detain 30,000 undocumented immigrants as an “infamy.” He attributed to the Republicans “fascist ideas,” which are the “fruits of capitalism.”
Trump said that he would send thousands of undocumented immigrants to Guantánamo, an act – in the words of Díaz-Canel – of absolute “brutality,” since for Havana the territory of the base is “illegally occupied” by the US Army.
In his demands to the Cuban regime, Rubio once again put on the table the issue of the dozens of terrorists for whom Havana has provided refuge. Such is the case of the American of Puerto Rican origin William Morales, who put a bomb in the Fraunces Tavern in New York and was given asylum by Fidel Castro in 1988. In an act of tribute to the victims, Rubio demanded that the Cuban government return Morales – who still lives in the Cuban capital – to be held for trial in the United States.
Emphatic about Washington’s justification for including Cuba in the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, Rubio recalled that “to this day,” the regime protects those responsible, in addition to other “fugitives and terrorists” sought by the United States.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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