Brazil’s president calls US economic embargo against Cuba “illegal” and condemns the terrorist designation
[1/2]Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva inspect an honor guard at the Revolutionary Palace during the G77+China summit in Havana, Cuba, September 16, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini acquire license rights
BRASILIA, Sept 16 (Reuters) – On his first trip to Cuba during his third term in office, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called the embargo imposed on the island by the United States “illegal” and condemned the island’s inclusion in the List of state sponsors of terrorism.
Former US President Donald Trump added the island nation to the US list of countries that support terrorism, and although the Biden administration has reversed other Trump-era measures, it has not yet removed Cuba from the list .
“Cuba has been a champion of fairer global governance. And to this day it is a victim of an illegal economic embargo,” Lula said in a speech at the opening of the G77 summit of developing countries in the capital Havana. “Brazil is against any unilateral coercive measures. We reject the inclusion of Cuba on the list of states supporting terrorism.”
The comments were made just hours before Lula’s departure for New York, where he will attend the United Nations General Assembly and hold bilateral talks with Biden.
Previously, Cuba expressed concern about the designation and Washington’s decades-old Cold War-era economic embargo against the island, which is ruled by the Cuban Communist Party. The 27-member European Union, the country’s most important trading partner, has also repeatedly rejected a trade embargo. Cuba and critics of the economic sanctions say the embargo prevents and impedes access to food, medicine and other critical development goods.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lula’s comments.
The Biden administration had previously said that US law provides exceptions and authorizations for the export of food, medicine and other humanitarian goods to the island.
During the meeting, Brazil is expected to return to its historic position and condemn the embargo against Cuba, one of the proposals that is usually voted on every year at the United Nations and which is overwhelmingly approved. In 2019, in the first year of right-wing Jair Bolsonaro’s government, Brazil joined the United States and Israel in voting against the proposal.
Lula also used his speech to reiterate calls for investments promised by developed countries to reduce the effects of climate change, as set out in the Paris Agreement but not fulfilled. The president said developing countries do not have the same “historic debt” for global warming as the rich.
“The principle of shared but differentiated responsibility remains valid. Therefore, all developing countries must be guaranteed climate funds according to their needs and priorities,” he said.
Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Steven Grattan; Editing by Aurora Ellis
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