Cuban Gov. Laments Suspension of Charter Flights from “the Enemy”

HAVANA TIMES – The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, expressed his rejection Saturday of the suspension by the United States of all flights that leave the country to Cuba, except those that go to Havana, for “violating Human Rights”, Europa Press reported.

While in Cuba the topic of human rights is considered playing to the enemy, when it affects the government’s revenue its seen in a different light.

“Cuba rejects the new ban on charter flights imposed by the United States. The escalation of sanctions that violate the human rights of Cubans and US citizens continues,” the president said in his Twitter account.

This decision was taken on Friday in the framework of the sanctions that the United States is taking against the Caribbean island over the internal repression and its “inadmissible” support for the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.

“Today, at my request, the Department of Transportation has suspended until further notice all public charter flights between the United States and Cuban destinations other than the José Martí International Airport in Havana,” announced the US secretary of state. Mike Pompeo.

Pompeo noted that the new restrictions would affect “the ability of the Cuban regime to obtain income, which it uses to finance the current repression against the Cuban people and for its inadmissible support for the dictator Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.”

Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, also rejected the decision of the United States to ban these flights and said that it was “a serious violation of Human Rights and freedom of travel”, in addition he alerted that it “hinders family reunification.”