The Cuban foreign minister said that the US government had allocated funds to overthrow the government, adding that the United States was the main cause of economic shortages in the Latin American country.
The head of the Cuban diplomatic service criticized the US government’s interventionist approach on Monday afternoon, Tehran time.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez tweeted: “White House national security adviser (Jake Sullivan) has no political or moral right to speak out against Cuba. His government has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars for the overthrow of our country and is imposing an economic blockade on the genocide that is the main cause of Cuba’s economic shortages.”
On Sunday, widespread protests took place in eight Cuban cities, including the capital Havana, against government policies, and protesters protested their living conditions. Government supporters also gathered in five Cuban cities.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan responded to the protests by saying that the United States supported the protesters’ right to demonstrate.
The United States has been besieging Cuba since the 1959 revolution, led by Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara, and exerting a variety of economic pressures and military threats.
The two countries’ agreement under former US President Barack Obama to normalize relations did not lift the siege of Cuba, despite easing Washington’s hostility to Havana. With former US President Donald Trump taking office in 2017, he backed the Obama administration’s agreement with Cuba and intensified US hostility toward Cuba.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel also said on Monday that some of those taking part in the protests were receiving money from the United States to create unrest.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also called on Monday to stop any foreign interference in Cuba’s internal affairs.