The United States faced allegations that it was plotting violence against Cuba, but the State Department denied all the claims. The remarks came a day after Havana claimed that Washington was seeking to foment unrest before the New Year. Cuba did not provide any concrete evidence to support the claims.
Cuba’s Interior Ministry took to social media on Monday to warn of “plans by the State Department and intelligence community to increase subversive and violent attacks against Cuba in order to generate a social outbreak before the end of 2023”.
But, the State Department official rejected the idea. While responding to an email to the news agency Reuters, the official responded that the “allegations that the United States is encouraging violent actions against the Cuban government are absurd”.
In a list published last week by Cuba, more than 80 foreign nationals and entities were accused of terrorism.
The long list of names included influencers, dissidents who reside in the US, and a candidate for mayor of Florida’s Miami-Dade County.
Cuba said on Saturday that it had thwarted a terrorist plot hatched in neighbouring south Florida that involved an armed man arriving on Cuban soil from the United States via jetski.
Meanwhile, the State Department official said that the list and all the allegations levelled by Cuba were an effort to belittle its own citizens abroad.
“These most recent allegations are the newest iteration of Cuban authorities’ efforts to belittle emigrants exercising their freedom of speech, including criticizing Cuba’s abysmal human rights record and relentless repression,” the official said.
(With inputs from agencies)
