Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel accused the United States of carrying out a cold-bloodedly calculated “political genocide” against Cuba and seeking to seize the Caribbean island, speaking on Sunday in Pinar del Rio at a rally marking the 73rd anniversary of the armed uprising that launched the Cuban Revolution in 1953.
“Cuba is today waging a historic battle against the walls of a genocidal policy whose objective is to suffocate an entire people in order to appropriate the country,” Diaz-Canel said, calling on Washington to lift its oil embargo and sanctions, which he said had produced regular nationwide blackouts and widespread fuel shortages.
His remarks came in response to a US State Department report accusing Cuba of infiltrating the American government and supporting what the report called an unprecedented wave of left-wing terrorism on American soil. In May, the Trump administration indicted former President Raul Castro on murder charges related to the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft operated by Miami-based Cuban exiles. Cuba rejected both actions.
US-Cuba diplomatic talks have largely stalled since June, Cuban officials confirmed.
