Bhubaneswar: Cuba’s Ambassador to India, Juan Carlos Marsan Aguilera, said his country was opposed to the US policy of imposing tariffs on others for political reasons.
He, however, claimed the island nation maintains a cordial relationship with the people of the USA while opposing Washington’s policies that many of its own citizens do not support.
On a two-day tour of Odisha, Aguilera said, “We are against this world tariff that has been imposed by this US administration. Nobody has the right to impose these tariffs on other countries for political reasons.
He claimed that the US wants to stop all trade between Russia and the rest of the world. “They don’t have the right to do that unilaterally,” he said.
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, which seeks to impose sanctions on Russia’s leadership and energy sector, as well as on collaborators with Moscow’s defence industry and its so-called “shadow fleet”.
The Act authorises President Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on countries buying Russian oil and gas, including China and India. It gives Trump wide discretion over implementation, including which countries face tariffs, the tariff rates imposed, and whether sanctions provisions are waived.
“Though Cuba does not have many natural resources, its real asset is its intellectual wealth. From the days of Fidel Castro, literacy and public learning have been treated as the foundations of the national survival.
“It is for this reason that Cuba stands united at home, resistant abroad, and unwilling to live as anyone’s dependent,” the envoy said.
He explained that Cuba was opposed to exploitation, imperialism and the misuse of power, and accused Washington of using force in Venezuela and detaining that country’s president to bring Venezuelan oil under its control..
About India, Aguilera said friendship between New Delhi and Havana remains intact. “Cuba would stay grateful for India’s moral support..
Pointing out that Cuba is a partner country of the BRICS, he said, “We have cooperated a lot within this grouping to strengthen cooperation in many fields.”
