Cuban embassy in Washington attacked with Molotov cocktails

WASHINGTON (AFP): Cuba’s embassy in Washington was attacked by a man using two Molotov cocktails on Sunday night, the country’s foreign minister said, describing the incident as a “terrorist attack”.

“The Cuban embassy in the US was the target of a terrorist attack by an individual who launched 2 Molotov cocktails. The staff suffered no harm,” said Bruno Rodriguez in a post on social media platform X.

This was the second attack against the Cuban mission in Washington in recent years, after a man opened fire on the building in April 2020. There were no injuries from that attack.

The Sunday night attack took place hours after Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel returned to Havana after attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York and other activities with Cubans in the US.

In New York, there had been demonstrations by Cubans resident in the United States against Diaz-Canel’s presence at the UN, according to posts and videos shared on social media.

“The anti-Cuban groups resort to terrorism when feeling they enjoy impunity, something that Cuba has repeatedly warned the US authorities about,” said Rodriguez after Sunday’s attack.

In April 2020, the Cuban foreign minister summoned the then US charge d’affaires in Havana, Mara Tekach, to express his “energetic protest” over what he called a “terrorist aggression” against his embassy.

That shooting left bullet holes in exterior walls and columns, broke a street lamp and damaged several panes of glass and moldings on the front of the building.

US authorities arrested Alexander Alazo, then 42, for the attack.

Alazo was indicted in July 2020 and charged with multiple offences, including “violent attack on a foreign official or official premises using a deadly weapon”, according to the US Justice Department.