Cuba, Venezuela lash out at Trump administration over new sanctions

The director of US affairs at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, made the remarks at a press conference in the capital Havana on Friday, after the administration of US President Donald Trump announced plans to adopt tougher policies on Cuba and its allies.

“We energetically reject these measures which will impact the economy and country’s development on top of the impact of the economic blockade,” Cuba’s top diplomat said. “They will fail. They will not break the will of Cubans.”

De Cossio added that such a measure would be unprecedented and violate international law, further isolating the United States.
He, however, said that Cuba's openness to respectful talks with Washington was unchanged despite the Trump administration's latest tough talk about the island country.

"Cuba is open to having a frank, professional, open and respectful dialogue with the US," he said. "Cuba is open to discussing any topic, if it's based in respect."

The US administration’s hawkish National Security Adviser John Bolton announced on Thursday new sanctions against Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

Bolton said Washington would prohibit Americans from involvement in Venezuela’s gold export trade, while the State Department will be adding more than two dozen Venezuelan entities to a list which Americans are banned from dealing with or patronizing.

Bolton’s announcement just came hours after United Nations General Assembly condemned persisting US sanctions against Cuba, renewing decades-long calls on Washington to remove the unilateral bans.

The world body adopted a resolution overwhelmingly approved by 189 nations, calling on Washington to end the embargo that has been in place for over 50 years. Only Israel sided with the US in voting against the unbinding measure.

The sanctions were imposed as Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel was holding talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on his first visit abroad.

The two leaders discussed "the state and prospects of the further consolidation of Russian-Cuban strategic partnership in various spheres and discuss opinions on current international and regional problems," according to the Kremlin.

Last month, Russian officials signed a $260 million contract to modernize Cuban energy facilities and a metal factory. The two countries also discussed bolstering their military ties.

Maduro calls US sanctions 'crazy'
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, meanwhile, denounced the new US sanctions against Caracas that would limit gold exports from the Latin American country and place restrictions on US financial institutions providing funds to Venezuela’s government.

"That's why I say that the sanctions from the imperialist United States government against Venezuela are crazy, demented, crazy, schizophrenic, criminal. But with or without sanctions, Venezuela is moving forward, nobody can stop the growth and prosperity of our people," Maduro said.

The Venezuelan leader told members of his government that the “imperialist American sanctions” would only target private businesses in the country.

"If there is anything that is being damaged and victimized by these criminal and crazy sanctions from the United States government against Venezuela, it is the private sector, business owners. They (the US) go after them, stopping transactions, stopping their activity,” he added.

Caracas has been facing a series of US embargoes targeting its economy and the country’s officials since 2014 under the pretext of alleged human rights abuses and threats to US national security. 

Massive inflation and a shortage of basic commodities such as foodstuffs and medicine have also forced an estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans to immigrate to other South American countries.

Maduro has repeatedly blamed a US-led economic war for the crisis, saying Washington is plotting to topple his government.