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.
After a man opened fire on the building in April 2020, this was the mission’s second attack in recent years in Washington. That attack did not result in any injuries.
After visiting the UN General Assembly in New York and other events with Cubans in the US, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel returned to Havana hours after the attack on Sunday night.
According to social media posts and videos, Cuban Americans living in the United States had protested in New York against Diaz-Canel’s attendance at the UN.
“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.
A street lamp was broken, numerous glass panes were broken, and moldings on the building’s front were also damaged by the shooting, which also left bullet holes in external walls and columns.
Alexander Alazo, aged 42, was detained by US authorities for the assault.
According to the US Justice Department, Alazo was indicted in July 2020 and accused of several crimes, including “violent attack on a foreign official or official premises using a deadly weapon.”
