Havana, November 22 (RHC-Granma)-- Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Rogelio Sierra Díaz has criticized coercive measures adopted by the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council against Venezuela, which he said constitute interference in the country’s internal affairs and are counterproductive to the Bolivarian government’s efforts to promote dialogue. 

Sierra Díaz stated that the EU’s decision goes against the principles of international law and the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed by regional heads of state and government during the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States’ (CELAC) Second Summit in Havana, January 2014.

“It is contradictory that the EU Foreign Affairs Council believes the only way to deal with the situation in Venezuela is through constructive dialogue and negotiation, while at the same time imposing sanctions, black lists and restrictions on international trade which harm the people,” he insisted.

The Cuban official went on to note that Cuba rejects these sanctions against Venezuela, and reaffirmed the island’s “unwavering and unconditional solidarity” with the Bolivarian Revolution, with its civil-military union and the government of President Nicolás Maduro Moros.