Cuba claims to have thwarted a “terrorist” project planned in the United States

Cuba foil one “terrorist project, organized and financed by the United States”the interior ministry announced in a statement published on Sunday in the state-run daily Granma.

According to this press release, the investigation, carried out by “specialized bodies” from the Cuban Ministry of the Interior, led to the arrest of a man identified as Ardenys Garcia Alvarez, “principal perpetrator of these acts, prepared on US soil”.

“Violent Acts”

This last “illegally entered Cuba by sea and brought firearms and ammunition as part of a new recruitment scheme to carry out acts of violence in our country”, it is added. Ardenys Garcia Alvarez illegally immigrated to the United States in 2014, according to the same source. “Other involved persons residing on national territory” was also arrested, it is stated without further details.

The Ministry of the Interior’s investigation “prevented the realization of plans conceived, directed and financed, again by the United States”, concludes the text. In December, Cuba for the first time issued a “National Terrorist List” including several dozen individuals and organizations that Havana accuses of being linked to “acts of terrorism” against the Cuban state.

All are off-island and most in the US. Among them are people accused by Havana of being involved in a series of bombings at hotels in the capital in 1997 or in failed attacks against former leader Fidel Castro (1926-2016) between 1991 and 2001.

Communist island blacklisted

In May, Washington removed Cuba from its list of countries not cooperating fully in the fight against terrorism, but the communist island remains on the US blacklist of countries that support terrorism, which includes Iran, North Korea and Syria.

Since 1962, the United States has imposed a commercial and financial embargo against Cuba. The latter was reinforced during the presidency of Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021), who reinstated the island on this blacklist. The Cuban government regularly condemns a decision “arbitrary” which inhibits cash flows and investments in favor of the island.