Havana, Cuba.- The Cuban Foreign Ministry issued a statement Monday morning, June 1st, condeming the inclusion of Cuba on a U.S. State Department list of countries that supposedly do not cooperate in the fight against terrorism.

The Declaration of MINREX states that this is a unilateral and arbitrary list, without any basis, authority or international support and, as is known, serves only the purposes of defamation and coercion against countries that refuse to abide by the will of the United States Government in its sovereign decisions.

The main argument used by the United States Government was the presence in Cuban national territory of members of the peace delegation of the National Liberation Army (ELN) of Colombia.

As is widely known, the peace delegation of the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN) is in our territory because, by virtue of Ecuador’s sudden abandonment of its status as a headquarters and at the request of the Colombian Government and the ELN, the peace process was moved to Havana in May 2018.

This peace dialogue had begun on February 7, 2017 in Quito. Cuba, together with Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela and Norway, has acted as guarantor of the peace process, at the request of the parties.

Since the arrival of Mr. Iván Duque Márquez to the Presidency of Colombia on 7 August 2018, representatives of that Government held, from 8 August of that year until January 2019, several exchanges with Cuba and the ELN peace delegation with the purpose of continuing the dialogues that had begun during the mandate of President Santos, a process in which our country acted with due discretion and rigorous compliance with its role as guarantor.

Following the attack on the Bogotá Police Cadet School on 17 January 2019, the President of the Republic of Cuba and the Minister for Foreign Affairs immediately expressed their condolences to the Government and people of Colombia, in particular the families of the victims of the attack, and reiterated our country’s firm position of rejection and condemnation of all terrorist acts, methods and practices in all their forms and manifestations.

The Colombian government then took political and legal action against the ELN peace delegation that was on Cuban territory and broke off the peace dialogue. Additionally, it decided to ignore the Protocol of Rupture, in clear abandonment and break of the commitments acquired by that State with other six signatory nations.

The Rupture Protocol was signed in the framework of the peace negotiations by the Government of Colombia, the eln and the Guarantor countries, on April 5, 2016. It provides for the safe return of the rebel delegation to Colombia in the event of a breakdown in the dialogue.

The Cuban government maintained and maintains today that what corresponds, according to the documents agreed upon, is the application of the Protocol. This position, widely supported by the international community and sectors committed to the search for a negotiated solution to the Colombian armed conflict, is a universal practice recognized and repeatedly ratified as it adheres to International Law and the commitments of the Guarantor and Host Country of the dialogues. Due to the non-application of this Protocol, the members of the eln peace delegation still remain in the country.

The Colombian government has incurred in a series of hostile actions against Cuba, including public statements, threats and summonses, through the manipulation, ungrateful and politically motivated, of our unobjectionable contribution to peace in Colombia. Among these actions, there was a change in Colombia’s historic position in support of the Resolution adopted each year by the United Nations General Assembly demanding the end of the United States economic, commercial and financial blockade that causes damage and suffering to the Cuban people. This action ostensibly changed the consistent and invariable position of all Colombian governments since 1992.

The same day that the U.S. announced the inclusion of Cuba in the list of countries that allegedly do not fully cooperate with US efforts against terrorism, the High Commissioner for Peace of the government of Colombia, Mr. Miguel Ceballos Arevalo, publicly stated that the decision of the State Department to include the island was an “endorsement” of the government of Colombia and its “insistent request” that Cuba hand over the members of the ELN peace delegation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urges the Government of Colombia to declare its official position on the reasons for its inclusion on the list drawn up by the United States Department of State and to clarify the role and position of its officials in previous exchanges with the United States on this matter.

As a country that has been a victim of terrorism, Cuba deplores any manifestation of political manipulation and opportunism in dealing with such a sensitive issue.