The Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) and its affiliated company Amistur S.A. denounced the decision by the US Treasury Department to include them on its sanctions list. According to a statement released by ICAP President Fernando González, this measure represents an “act of political hostility based on slander.”
ICAP emphasized that the objective of the U.S. side is to try to justify intensifying the economic blockade against the island, as well as to break the bonds of friendship that exist between the Cuban people, the people of the United States, and the patriotic sector of the Cuban community residing in that country.
The institution pointed out that this action is part of a strategy of maximum aggression implemented against Cuba throughout the year, characterized by an unprecedented increase in coercion and the extraterritorial application of the blockade.
The current U.S. administration, which tries to block the sun and the stars from us, is now attacking the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP).
This time, it is attacking solidarity, friendship, and love.
The document emphasized that the Executive Orders signed on January 29 and May 1, combined with Washington’s pressure to restrict the country’s fuel supplies and financial income, seek to provoke a humanitarian crisis, thus demonstrating the genocidal nature of this policy.
In response to Washington’s accusations, ICAP labeled them false and aimed at discrediting the organization by claiming it is an agency dedicated to subverting and destabilizing US national security.
Likewise, the State Department’s claims that the organization is spreading radical ideology abroad were rejected. The ICAP (Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples) called the US government’s stance hypocritical, arguing that it has allocated billions of taxpayer dollars to alter Cuba’s political and economic order, while simultaneously criticizing an institution that for 65 years has been dedicated to fostering understanding and friendship between nations.
Finally, the statement reaffirmed that no coercive measures will affect the work of ICAP and Amistur S.A. The organization reiterated its commitment to international solidarity, the defense of just causes, and its rejection of the financial persecution that is affecting families on the island.
The statement concluded with a demand for the immediate removal of both entities from the sanctions list, called for an end to the economic war and military threats, and urged Cuban friendship associations to oppose what they consider an attempt to criminalize solidarity.
In a further escalation of its maximum pressure policy, on June 4, the Trump Administration, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), imposed new unilateral sanctions that added President Miguel Díaz-Canel, his family, and relatives of the historic leader Raúl Castro to its “Specially Designated Nationals List.”
The restrictions also extended to the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), and its travel agency, Amistur.
IMAGE CREDIT: In response to Washington’s accusations, ICAP labeled them as false and aimed at discrediting the organization. Photo: Cubadebate.
[ SOURCE: teleSUR ]
