By María Josefina Arce

Barely a few days into 2024 and already solidarity with Cuba is being felt, a nation that for more than six decades has been subjected to a criminal blockade, which is reinforced by its inclusion in the list of countries that the United States arbitrarily considers sponsors of terrorism.

Let us not forget that this unilateral designation entails severe restrictions on access to international financial markets, which limits the ability to do business with other countries and entities.

It undoubtedly has a chilling effect, as banks, financial institutions, companies and investors avoid dealing with Cuba because of the sanctions and fines to which they may be subjected.

Now, Democratic congressmen from the state of Massachusetts have asked U.S. President Joe Biden to exclude the Caribbean nation from that spurious relationship, in which it was once again included in the last days of Republican Donald Trump's term in office.

In his last week in the White House in January 2021, Trump included Cuba again in the list, from which it had been removed in 2015 by then President Barack Obama.

In a missive to Biden, released in the first days of the year, U.S. lawmakers remind him of his electoral promise to develop a new policy with the Greater of the Antilles and review some of the coercive measures of his predecessor, who in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic tightened the economic siege against Cubans.

The exclusion of the archipelago from that list described as illegitimate was a constant demand during 2023 by governments, figures from different spheres and the international community in general.

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was one of the personalities who repeatedly insisted on this aspect. In his recent conversations on migration with the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, the Mexican president reiterated this demand.

In the same sense, the head of state of Chile, Gabriel Boric, pronounced himself in his meeting with Biden, during his visit to the United States last November.

There are many voices internationally denouncing that the inclusion of Cuba in this list is a pretext for Washington's economic coercion against Cubans.

But in addition, as Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel stated, it is a paradox that the United States, which finances and supports terrorist actions against Cuba, accuses it of sponsoring terrorism.