Cuba to Trump: US in no 'condition to lecture us' on human rights

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/17/politics/cuba-trump-response/index.html

(CNN)Responding to President Donald Trump's announcement Friday that he is reversing the Obama administration's steps to normalize relations with Cuba, the Castro government said the US is in no "condition to lecture us."

Trump's speech in Miami to announce the rollback was "full of hostile rhetoric," Havana's statement said, adding that the announced policies will "revert" the progress achieved between the two countries in the past two years.

Under the President's executive order, the Trump administration will begin strictly enforcing the exemptions that allow travel between the US and Cuba and prohibit commerce with Cuban businesses owned by the military and intelligence services. Trump also directed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to convene a task force on expanding Internet access on the island and reiterated the United States' opposition to efforts in the United Nations to lift the Cuban embargo until more is done to honor human rights.

During his speech, Trump slammed Cuba for human rights abuses, saying, "The Castro regime has shipped arms to North Korea and fueled chaos in Venezuela. While imprisoning innocents, it has harbored cop killers, hijackers and terrorists. It has supported human trafficking, forced labor and exploitation all around the globe."

The Cuban government rebuked those statements in a lengthy response Friday, writing that Trump's executive order betrays a double standard on human rights.