|
Statement
from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs
•
United States expels 14 Cuban diplomats in an
"irrational act of revenge"
ON May
12, the U.S. mission to the United Nations in New
York sent a communication to our mission to that
agency informing that seven Cuban diplomats had been
engaging in activities beyond their official
capacity and considered injurious to the United
States.
The
note states that unless Cuba can offer information
to justify such conduct, it will ask the mission to
make the necessary arrangements for the seven
officials and their families to leave the country
within 48 hours. This is obviously the first phase
in an operation to expel our diplomats in New York
for no reason whatsoever.
Subsequently,
on May 13, the U.S. State Department informed the
Cuban Interests Section in Washington of its
decision to declare seven diplomats "personae
non grata," giving them 10 days to leave the
country.
The
Minister of Foreign Affairs rejects this new
escalation of U.S. government aggression towards our
country and our diplomatic representatives in
Washington and New York.
With
these acts, the U.S. Government is once again
demonstrating that it has openly adopted a
provocative and meddling course against Cuba.
As our
government has repeatedly charged, this arbitrary
decision is yet further evidence of a plan against
Cuba aimed at sabotaging the migratory agreements,
creating a crisis and propitiating a confrontation
between the two countries. The expulsion of the
Cuban diplomats pursues the objective of provoking
an escalation culminating in the closure of both
countries’ Interests Sections, as has been
historically demanded by the anti-Cuban mafia in
Miami.
The
U.S. government is trying to adversely affect the
prestige of Cuban diplomacy, while demonstrating its
frustration at the recent defeats it suffered at the
Human Rights Commission in Geneva and at the UN
Economic and Social Council, when Cuba was newly
elected by acclamation as a member of that
commission.
Expelling
14 diplomats is an irrational act of revenge on Cuba
by the U.S. government. It is a sign of the growing
desperation of extremist sectors demanding a
hardening of the blockade and fresh aggressions on a
people they have been unable to sway after more than
44 years of heroic resistance.
Cuba
will not be intimidated by this or any other
provocation. Cuba will not renounce the struggle for
its independence and sovereignty. Cuba knows that it
has right on its side and can count on the unity and
determination to fight of its entire people.
Cuba
will take the time it needs to respond to this new
provocation from the U.S. government.
Ministry
of Foreign Affairs
May
13, 2003
|
