Calling Cuba a failed state is nonsenses, says MINREX

Washington, Sep 22 (Prensa Latina) Calling Cuba a failed state is nonsenses, Deputy Foreign Minister (MINREX) Carlos Fernandez de Cossio said on Thursday in an interview with the U.S. program Democracy Now.

The deputy foreign minister stressed in television his statement is evidenced in Cuba’s social progress in education, health, science, technology, culture and sports sectors.

Cuba managed to face the Covid-19 pandemic with its own resources and that was thanks to its own national health system development, despite the difficulties imposed by the hostile U.S. blockade, and this “is not the features of a failed state”, he stated.

Fernández de Cossío strongly condemned the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on Cuba for over 60 years, as well as the nearly 240 coercive measures applied under the Donald Trump Administration (2017-2021).

To understand the effect of U.S. policies on Cuba, De Cossío asked Americans to think about how it would influence their country and their lifestyles whether a powerful economy decided to call off sales or exports, preclude it from accessing resources, markets or even from carrying out international transactions.

“If you multiply that, you may see the impact on Cuba,” the deputy minister asserted.

“The U.S. policy´s goal since 1960 is to make the Cuban people´s life as difficult and unbearable as possible, with the ambition this will lead to overthrow the government,” he said.

As to the Joe Biden administration’s possible changes concerning Havana, De Cossío stated the recently announced decision to process all migrant visas at the U.S. embassy in Havana is a step to try to correct all hostilities inherited from the Trump era.

Yet D Cossío said how the United States spends millions of dollars to try to subdue the Cuban government and also recalled how Cuba still remains included in the list of alleged states sponsor terrorism, according to Washington.

“We spoke with the U.S. government and expressed there is no basis for such a decision, while we no yet have arguments, evidence or reasons why Cuba remains included in a list where it must not be,” the official remarked.

The only excuse, without being directly stated, is political, he added.

Fernandez de Cossio, on the other hand, reaffirmed the great responsibility of the United States to pressure the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in an aggressive stance against Russia and its influence in the Ukraine conflict.