President Ali calls for ‘dismantling’ of U.S. embargo against Cuba

President Dr Irfaan Ali on Friday reiterated his call for the United States (U.S.) to end its “unacceptable” embargo against Cuba.

Speaking at the VIII Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), being hosted in St Vincent and the Grenadines, President Ali said: “I repeat our call for the dismantling of the unacceptable embargo against our sister Caribbean State of Cuba.

“The economic and political aggression must come to an end and the designation of Cuba as a State sponsor of terrorism must also come to an end.”

In 2022 when Guyana and Cuba celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations, Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country stands “resolutely with the Cuban people in their longstanding quest for the removal of the economic, commercial and financial embargo under which they have laboured for more than six decades.

“We renew our call for an end to this policy and reaffirm our conviction that the normalisation of relations between the United States of America and Cuba will contribute to peace, stability and development in the Americas.”

The UN General Assembly in November 2023 voted by a large margin against the United States’ economic and trade embargo against Cuba, first imposed in 1960. A total of 187 States voted for the resolution put forward each year against the embargo with only the US and Israel voting against and Ukraine abstaining.