Havana, May 9 (Prensa Latina) --The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced today that the United States continues to protect terrorists in its territory, after learning of the acquittal of the person responsible for the attack on its embassy in Washington.

Through a statement, the Foreign Ministry expressed deep concern about the decision of a judge of the Court for the District of Columbia of the United States, issued on May 1, which acquitted Alexander Alazo Baró, who fired the 32 bullets from an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle against the island's diplomatic mission on April 30, 2020.

The attack by Alazo, of Cuban origin and who lives in the United States, caused extensive material damage to the exterior and interior of the building and endangered the lives of several people who were inside the building, the document noted.

The statement recalled that Alazo himself confessed that he was going with the intention of hitting whatever was in front of him, even human beings if they were in his line of fire.

It was a terrorist act in the capital city of the United States against a permanent diplomatic headquarters, the official note noted.

The note also pointed out that at the time of his arrest, Alazo's regular association with the religious center Doral Jesus Worship Center, in Miami, was known, where people gather with known conduct in favor of aggression, hostility, violence and extremism against Cuba.

The individual was immediately detained at the scene and the United States government charged him with four crimes provided for in the Federal Code of that country.  However, Washington has been unable to describe the action for what it is: a terrorist act.

The text states that the lengthy process to analyze proven facts made evident the politicization by the United States of the attack perpetrated against our Embassy.

Four years after the events and in a criminal process full of opacity, the judge accepted a joint report from the Prosecutor's Office and the terrorist's defense that presents the perpetrator as someone who, at the time of the incident, was not in possession of his mental faculties and, therefore, declares him innocent.

The decision taken sends a dangerous message of impunity for those who propose to take violent actions against diplomatic headquarters in the city of Washington, the Foreign Ministry stated.

The Foreign Ministry note also recalled that on September 24, 2023, an individual threw two Molotov cocktails over the perimeter fence of the Cuban Embassy in Washington and against the front façade of that facility.

It is an event that occurred three years and five months after the attack perpetrated by Alazo, and even the United States law enforcement and enforcement authorities claim to not know the perpetrator or have details of what happened.

According to the Foreign Ministry, these terrorist acts are a direct result of the policy and aggressive discourse of the United States government against Cuba, of the permanent instigation of violence and hatred by American politicians and anti-Cuban extremist groups.

rgh/evm