Current:Home > MarketsCuba’s ambassador to the US says Molotov cocktails thrown at Cuban embassy were a ‘terrorist attack’-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Cuba’s ambassador to the US says Molotov cocktails thrown at Cuban embassy were a ‘terrorist attack’
View Date:2024-12-25 01:08:39
WASHINGTON (AP) — Cuba’s ambassador to the United States says a weekend incident in which at least one incendiary device was thrown into the Cuban embassy compound was a “terrorist attack.”
The Cuban embassy’s chief of mission, Lianys Torres Rivera, told The Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday that the Sunday night incident was part of a pattern of attacks directed at Cuban overseas missions over the course of the last ten years.
“We think that it’s a terrorist attack that according to that and according to the history of a terrorist attack, that for decades it has been done against Cuban diplomatic missions,” she said.
She could not comment on the motivation of the attacker, who remains at large, but said “we think that the origin, the roots, it’s in this case in this a policy of aggression and hatred against Cuba that for decades has been the one of the difference a U.S. administration against our country.”
The incident remains under investigation by the Washington D.C. police, the Secret Service and the State Department. U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan and the State Department, have condemned the attack.
Torres Rivera said the embassy would continue to function as normal.
“We are just alert and taking the proper measure that have to be taken, that has to be taken, in situations like this,” she said. “And, I think that in the case of the U.S. as a host country, they should also take this as a call to secure the embassy staff and the premises to avoid or to prevent ... attacks like this in the future.”
U.S. law enforcement officials said Monday they were investigating the attack but said there was no significant damage and no one was injured, as did the Cuban embassy.
Secret Service officers were called around 8 p.m. Sunday to respond to the attack on a busy street in the Adams-Morgan section of the city.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on the X social media site that the Cuban Embassy “was the target of a terrorist attack by an individual who threw 2 Molotov cocktails,” a type of crude grenade made from a bottle filled with flammable liquid and a wick that’s lit just before it’s thrown.
In 2020, a Cuban man who sought asylum in the U.S. opened fire with an AK-47 at the Cuban Embassy, spraying the front of the building with nearly three dozen rounds. Authorities said the man told them he opened fire because he wanted to “get them before they could get him.”
The shooting left bullet holes in the glass around the embassy’s door, and bullets pierced the bronze statue of Jose Marti, the Cuban writer and national hero, as well as the columns and facade of the building.
Cuba built the embassy in 1917. It closed in January 1961 as Cold War tensions between the two countries escalated, and it reopened as an “interests section” in 1977. In July 2015, it became an embassy again as the two countries restored relations under President Barack Obama and President Raul Castro.
The embassy is on a busy street between the embassies of Poland and Lithuania.
veryGood! (9)
Related
- Watch out, Temu: Amazon Haul, Amazon's new discount store, is coming for the holidays
- U2 concert uses stunning visuals to open massive Sphere venue in Las Vegas
- Some states pick up the tab to keep national parks open during federal shutdown
- Allison Holker Honors Beautiful, Sweet Stephen tWitch Boss on What Would've Been His 41st Birthday
- Inflation ticked up in October, CPI report shows. What happens next with interest rates?
- Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku burned on face, arm in home accident while lighting fire pit
- Man tied to suspected gunman in killing of Tupac Shakur is indicted on murder charge
- AP PHOTOS: As Alpine glaciers slowly disappear, new landscapes are appearing in their place
- 'America's flagship' SS United States has departure from Philadelphia to Florida delayed
- Fourth soldier from Bahrain dies of wounds after Yemen’s Houthi rebels attack troops on Saudi border
Ranking
- The Bachelorette's Desiree Hartsock Gives Birth, Welcomes Baby No. 3 With Chris Siegfried
- Supreme Court to consider Texas and Florida laws regulating social media platforms
- Bob and Erin Odenkirk talk poetry and debate the who's funniest member of the family
- Duane 'Keffe D' Davis indicted on murder charge for Tupac Shakur 1996 shooting
- College football top five gets overhaul as Georgia, Miami both tumble in US LBM Coaches Poll
- Olivia Rodrigo, Usher, Nicki Minaj among stars tapped for Jingle Ball tour, ABC special
- Republican presidential candidates use TikTok and Taylor Swift to compete for young voters
- DA: Officers justified in shooting, killing woman who fired at them
Recommendation
-
Trump hammered Democrats on transgender issues. Now the party is at odds on a response
-
How much was Dianne Feinstein worth when she died?
-
North Carolina radio station plans to reject broadcasts of 'inappropriate' Met operas
-
Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker’s Halloween Decor Has Delicious Nod to Their Blended Family
-
Song Jae-lim, Moon Embracing the Sun Actor, Dead at 39
-
Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku burned on face, arm in home accident while lighting fire pit
-
Why arrest in Tupac Shakur's murder means so much to so many
-
Chicago agency finds no wrongdoing in probe of officers’ alleged sex misconduct with migrants