May 10, Washington, DC
Bullet holes from terrorist attack against the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC
Carlos Lazo, coordinator of the Puentes de Amor solidarity project, who also works in support of lifting the United States blockade against Cuba, told Prensa Latina “This decision surprises us, scandalizes us, and worries us”.
He also asked: “How is it that a person who committed a terrorist attack against an embassy in the United States, who opened fire with a high powered rifle and endangered the lives of families and embassy staff and who was accused of four charges was acquitted by the US justice system?”.
Lazo said that it is a tremendous irony that the United States has Cuba on a list of terrorist countries with lying justifications, meanwhile, someone who has committed violent acts against the Cuban embassy and the Cuban people is declared free of any charges.
“Any Cuban with dignity, with love for his country, must be scandalized by this fact; furthermore, it establishes a precedent of impunity that those who commit acts like these will not receive the weight of justice,” he stressed.
A similar sentiment was raised by Cheryl LaBash, co-chair of the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), who added that she considers the perpetrator of the attack “a danger to himself and society.” The judge’s ruling “gives the green light to politically motivated violent crimes against Cuban embassies. The United States Government shown once again its willingness to violate international law and conventions,” concluded the NNOC leader. The NNOC is made up of over 70 organizations that work in solidarity with the island and for the end of the over 60 year blockade that is designed to economically strangle the Cuban people.
Alleging the perpetrator’s insanity, on May 1st, a judge from the District of Columbia acquitted Alexander Alazo, of Cuban origin and resident in the United States since 2010, of the four charges against him for the terrorist attack he perpetrated against the Cuban embassy in Washington four years ago.
A statement from the Cuban Foreign Ministry expressed its deep concern about the decision, even though Alazo himself confessed that he had gone there with the intention of firing on whatever was in front of him, including human beings, in case they were in his line of fire. The Foreign Ministry warned that the ruling of the judge sends a dangerous message of impunity for those who propose to take violent actions against embassies in Washington.
Source: Prensa Latina
Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs Statement on the release:
United States Continues to Protect Terrorists
May 9, 2024
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has learned with deep concern the decision of a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, issued on May 1, 2024, which acquitted Alexander Alazo Baró of the four charges against him, as a result of the terrorist attack perpetrated by him against the Cuban Embassy in the United States in the early morning of April 30, 2020, for which he alleged conditions of insanity of the perpetrator.
Alazo, a person of Cuban origin who has lived in the United States since 2010, fired all 32 bullets from a magazine of an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle at the Cuban diplomatic headquarters in Washington, causing extensive material damage to the exterior and interior of the building and endangering the lives of several people inside the building.
Allazar himself confessed that he intended to shoot whatever was in front of him, including human beings if they had been in his line of fire. This was a terrorist act in the capital city of the United States against a permanent diplomatic headquarters.
At the time of his arrest, Alazo’s regular association with the Doral Jesus Worship Center in Miami Dade, which brings together people with known behavior in favor of aggression, hostility, violence and extremism against Cuba, was well known.
The terrorist was immediately arrested at the scene and the United States government charged him with four crimes under the United States Federal Code. However, it has been unable to qualify the action for what it is: a terrorist act.
The politicization by the United States of the attack perpetrated against the Cuban Embassy in Washington was evident from the very first moments. This is demonstrated by the lengthy process of analyzing proven facts.
Four years after the events and in a criminal process full of opacity, the judge accepted a joint report by the Prosecutor’s Office and the defense of the terrorist Alexander Allazo Baró, which presents the perpetrator as someone who, at the time of the events, was not in possession of his mental faculties and, therefore, declares him innocent.
This decision sends a dangerous message of impunity to those who intend to take violent actions against diplomatic headquarters in Washington.
On September 24, 2023, in the evening hours, an individual threw two Molotov cocktails over the perimeter fence of the Cuban Embassy in Washington and against the front facade of that facility. It is an event that occurred three years and five months after the attack perpetrated by Alazo. Even U.S. law enforcement authorities claim not to know the perpetrator or have details of what happened.
These terrorist acts are a direct result of the aggressive policy and discourse of the U.S. government against Cuba, of the permanent instigation of violence and hatred by U.S. politicians and extremist anti-Cuban groups.