The Secret Service has confirmed the Cuban embassy in Washington, D.C. was attacked Sunday night by an assailant who threw a Molotov cocktail at the building — the embassy reopened in 2015 when Barack Obama restored diplomatic relations with the Communist island.
There was no fire or significant damage to the building from the attack that took place just after 8 p.m., according to reports, and Cuba has confirmed that there were no injuries.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said in a tweet that the assailant threw two Molotov cocktails and that “details are being worked out.”
in Washington since April, 2020. Back then, an individual shot several rounds against the embassy using an assault rifle.
The anti-Cuban groups resort to terrorism when feeling they enjoy impunity, something that #Cuba has repeatedly warned the US authorities about.
— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) September 25, 2023
Parrilla added that this is the second attack against Cuba’s diplomatic mission since April 2020.
“During the night of September 24, 2023, a terrorist attack occurred against the premises of the Cuban Embassy in the United States, when an individual threw two Molotov cocktails from the sidewalk over the perimeter fence of the facility, which hit the front wall of that diplomatic mission,” the Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “There were no injuries to the personnel who were present at that headquarters. At the request of the Cuban diplomatic mission, officers of the United States Secret Service arrived at the building and had access to its facilities to verify the violent action perpetrated.”
“It is the second violent attack against the diplomatic headquarters in Washington, since April 2020,” the release added. “On the night of that day, an individual of Cuban origin, standing in the middle of the street in the US capital and using an assault rifle, fired a burst of thirty cartridges against the building. Fortunately, there was no damage to the personnel inside the property on that occasion, but there was considerable material damage.”
According to Cuban officials, the perpetrator “still awaits trial and the United States government has refused to classify the incident as a terrorist act.”
The Foreign Ministry reminded the United States that the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations requires host countries “to take all appropriate measures to protect the premises of the mission against intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.”