PM Browne makes another call for ending of US Embargo against Cuba

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – 29th January 2015……Heads of States and Governments attending the Third Summit of the Community of Latin America and Caribbean states have been urged to call on the United States Congress to lift the economic blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States government.

Speaking at the Opening of the session on Wednesday, Prime Minister Browne outlined that his country welcomes the decision of the governments of Cuba and the United States of America to establish diplomatic relations.

“We are delighted that the anachronistic and failed policy of the United States government of isolating Cuba is in the process of ending.  But, we remain concerned that the formal trade embargo of Cuba by the United States remains codified in extra-territorial laws,” Prime Minister Browne told the leaders.

Reiterating a plea made at the United Nations General Assembly in September last year, Prime Minister Browne called on CELAC members to urge the US Congress to rescind the trade embargo against Cuba, and to normalize all relations in the interest of the stability and well-being of the Hemisphere.

The country’s leader, who in September at the United Nations also called on the United States to remove Cuba from a list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, also spoke on the issue of terrorism at the CELAC Summit noting that it has become a scourge on the face of the Earth.

He noted that the terrorist tactics of ISIL, Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram are despicable.

“We must condemn them vigorously and stand against terrorism wherever it occurs, as we do those that occurred in the United States, the United Kingdom and France.  But, it is worth recalling that the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, based at the University of Maryland, has revealed that in 2012, terrorism touched 85 countries and just three - Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan - suffered more than half of the attacks and fatalities,” he pointed out.

Prime Minister Browne stated that terrorism is not occurring only in Western countries and called nations to action.

“We must also take action within our own domestic jurisdictions and in collaboration with our regional neighbours to stamp out terrorism wherever it might arise within our own boundaries,” he stated.

Prime Minister Browne heads Antigua and Barbuda’s delegation to the CELAC Meeting in Costa Rica, which includes Foreign Minister the Hon. Charles Henry Fernandez and Ambassador Colin Murdoch.