The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it has proceeded to withdraw its diplomatic personnel in Libya, “where foreign intervention and the NATO military aggression have intensified the conflict and have prevented the Libyan people from advancing towards a negotiated and peaceful solution in the full exercise of their self-determination.”{{more}}

A statement from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “The Republic of Cuba does not recognize the National Transition Council or any other provisional authority and will only give its recognition to a government legitimately constituted in that country without foreign intervention and through the free, sovereign and sole will of the sister Libyan people.”

“Ambassador Víctor Ramírez Peña and First Secretary Armando Pérez Suárez, both accredited in Tripoli, have maintained an impeccable conduct, strictly adhering to their diplomatic status, have run risks and have been at the side of the Libyan people in this tragic situation. They have been direct witnesses of NATO bombings of civil targets and the deaths of innocent people.

“On the crude pretext of protecting civilians, NATO has killed thousands of people, has ignored the constructive initiatives of the African Union and other countries, and has even violated the questionable resolutions imposed by the Security Council, in particular by attacking civilian targets, by funding and supplying weapons to one side, as well as through the deployment of operative and diplomatic personnel on the ground.”

“The United Nations has ignored the clamor of international public opinion in the defense of peace and has become the accomplice of a war of conquest. Events are confirming the early warnings of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz and Cuba’s timely condemnation in the UN. Now it is better understood what the so-called “responsibility to protect” is for in the hands of the powerful.

“Cuba affirms that nothing can justify the killing of innocent people.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs demands the immediate end of the NATO bombardments which continue costing human lives and reiterates the urgency of permitting the Libyan people to find a peaceful and negotiated solution, without foreign intervention, in the exercise of their inalienable right to independence and self-determination, sovereignty over their natural resources and their territorial integrity.”

“Cuba attests to the fact that NATO’s conduct is directed at creating similar conditions for an intervention in Syria and demands the end of foreign interference in that Arab nation. It calls on the international community to prevent a new war, urges the United Nations to fulfill its duty of safeguarding the peace and supports the right of the Syrian people to their full independence and self-determination.”