Cuba says it’s disrespecful to call civil society defenders of abuses

Havana, Jun 15 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Wednesday described as disrespectful that the United States calls "Cuban civil society" those who attended the IX Summit of the Americas and defended abusive measures against its people.

On Twitter, the minister said that most of the few Cubans that the Joe Biden administration invited to the Los Angeles summit “live outside Cuba and on the budget of the US Agency for International Development.”

It is disrespectful that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “calls Cuban civil society those who defended the exclusion and inhumane abusive measures against their own people,” the foreign minister tweeted.

He added that the true interests and demands of the Cuban people were represented by the solidarity expressed by the countries of the region and at the People’s Summit for Democracy, also held in California parallel to the summit organized by the Biden administration.

The so-called forum of the Americas, which was held last week, was criticized by leaders of the continent due to the host country’s decision to exclude Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Members of the Caribbean Community, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and other leaders condemned this decision and ratified their solidarity for Cuba.

In addition, Washington refused to process visas for members of Cuban civil society invited to the event in California, which the Foreign Ministry here considered discriminatory treatment towards Cuban citizens.