The president described the policy as unjust and prolonged, adding that “it has had serious consequences for the Cuban economy and people, who struggle daily to resist a punishment rejected by the international community.”

Lourenco said that the Caribbean nation cannot be arbitrarily and unilaterally considered a state sponsor of terrorism, and remembered the important role Cuba played in the struggle of African peoples that led to the fall of the racist and inhumane apartheid regime in South Africa.

Similarly, he remembered that it was a signatory to the New York Peace Agreement of December 22, 1988, which brought freedom to the South African people and led to the independence of Namibia.

He pointed out that the same model of action applied to the island, which is “incompatible with minimally acceptable standards of global coexistence,” is linked to the origin of the unilateral sanctions also imposed on Zimbabwe and Venezuela.

jdt/jav/oda/kmg