Cuban president calls for elimination of nuclear weapons

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, through his Twitter account, today called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons, on the 78th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

The head of state wrote on the social network, 78 years of the horror that burned 170 thousand human beings with their property and their memories. There is only one way to prevent a repetition: the total, irreversible and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ordered by the then President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively, caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries, as well as illnesses among the victims.

It is estimated that between 15 and 20 percent of those affected, mostly civilians, died from injuries or ailments attributed to poisoning due to the radiation released by the deflagrations that destroyed both cities.

Since then, thousands of people have suffered from leukemia and different types of cancers, among other ailments related to the U.S. nuclear legacy.