Cuba rebukes US for adding it to counter-terrorism blacklist

HAVANA - The Cuban government said Wednesday it is a victim of "terrorism organized, financed and executed" by the United States after Washington included Havana into the list of countries that "do not fully cooperate with the US counter-terrorism efforts."

"The United States added Cuba to the spurious list of countries (that do) not fully cooperate with its counter-terrorism efforts, but did not avoid and condemn the terrorist attack against our embassy in Washington," Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez tweeted.

The US Department of State said Wednesday that it has included Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Syria, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea into its list of countries that "do not fully cooperate" with its 2019 "counter-terrorism efforts" on the ground of the Arms Export Control Act.

On Tuesday, Havana denounced "the complicit and suspicious silence" of the United States after an armed attack against the Cuban Embassy in Washington D.C. on April 30.

The decision by the U.S. government prohibits the sale or license for the export of defense articles and services to the nations contained in the blacklist. It is the first time that Cuba was re-listed as a state sponsor of terrorism by Washington since it was removed in 2015 after having been placed on the terror list for 33 years.