North Korea says ‘Cuba would smash’ US interference

“The anti-government protests that occurred in Cuba are an outcome of behind-the-scene manipulation by the outside forces coupled with their persistent anti-Cuba blockade scheming to obliterate socialism and the revolution,” said a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson in a Friday statement.

“We express our full support to and solidarity with all efforts and measures taken by the government and people of Cuba for safeguarding the dignity and sovereignty of the country and defending to the end their fatherland, revolution and gains of socialism,” the statement added.

“We are confident that Cuba would smash the interference of foreign forces, creditably overcome the present situation, and firmly safeguard the political stability of the country.” 

The statement also said Pyongyang “condemns and rejects the attempt at interfering in the internal affairs by the outside forces scheming to overthrow the socialist system of Cuba by taking advantage of the recent anti-government protests.”

The development came as Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel declared on Friday that Washington had failed in its attempt to “destroy” his nation, dismissing claims by US President Joe Biden that Havana was “repressing” its citizens and that his administration “was considering ways to force open internet restrictions in Cuba.”

Washington “has failed in its efforts to destroy Cuba, despite spending billions of dollars to do so,” Diaz-Canel emphasize in a Twitter post on Friday a day after Biden described Cuba as a “failed State.”

“A failed state is a state which, in order to please and blackmail a reactionary minority, is capable of multiplying the damage to 11 million human beings, ignoring the will of the majority of Cubans, Americans, and the international community,” he added, referring to the US.

“If President Joseph Biden had sincere humanitarian concern for the Cuban people, he could eliminate the 243 measures implemented by President Donald Trump, including the more than 50 cruelly imposed during the pandemic, as a first step toward ending the blockade,” Diaz-Canel further pointed out in response to Biden’s claims.

Cuba has held Washington responsible for five recent days of unrest in the country that led to at least one death and dozens of injuries and more than 100 arrests.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez also insisted earlier in the week that Washington was using high-tech digital systems to incite protests in the small island nation close to US southern coast waters.

Rodriguez also denounced the so-called “SOS Cuba” campaign promoted on social networks as one form of manipulation, warning that the campaign calls for a humanitarian intervention in Cuba, which means a US military intervention that is against international and Cuban laws.

The social media campaign is reminiscent of many other regime change programs directed by the United States, including the 2019 coup d’état against Bolivian President Evo Morales and an attempted coup against President Maduro in Venezuela.

Protest rallies erupted against Diaz-Canel’s government over the weekend. Thousands took to the streets in major cities demanding his resignation amid deteriorating economic problems.

The unrest came amid Cuba’s worst economic crisis in 30 years, with chronic shortages of electricity and food exacerbated by brutal US sanctions.

The Cuban government blames the economic woes mainly on US embargoes and the coronavirus pandemic.

Mexico, other nations voice support for Cuba

Meanwhile, a number of Latin America’s leaders and political figures have joined a chorus of support for the Cuban government and people in response to the latest interference and destabilizing attempts by the United States.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has once again denounced the US blockade against Cuba as a leading cause of suffering in the country.

“I ascribe the situation in Cuba to the United States blockade because no one can sell to Cuba and if a company does it, it is sanctioned,” Obrador said on Tuesday.

Russia also lambasted the US over its attempts to provoke social unrest in Cuba as part of a “color revolution” in the Caribbean country, where anti-government protesters have demanded the resignation of Diaz-Canel.

“The logic is simple here. It has been tested on numerous occasions by Washington in various situations, but everything is one and the same mode of operation – instigating color revolutions against undesirable regimes,” said Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday.

Among other countries voicing support for Cuba and condemning persisting US interference in the small island nation were China, Venezuela, Iran and Bolivia.