From our Consequences of Backing Dictators Bureau with some assistance from our Bureau of Lighthearted Moments in Diplomatic History
Castro, Inc. has pulled its diplomats from Syria after a band of rebels carried out an armed assault on its embassy in Damascus. The attack seems to be a consequence of Castro, Inc.’s support of ousted dictator Bashar Al-Assad. The diplomats were not harmed, but their departure has left the embassy in rebel hands. Rebels also attacked and ransacked Iran’s embassy. The Russian embassy seems to remain out of danger for the moment. Stay tuned.
From Yournews.com
The Brazilian ambassador to Syria, André Santos, has offered new details about the entry of a group of rebels into the Cuban embassy in Syria last week. The information, initially revealed in brief by the newspaper El País in Brazil, has not had any repercussions so far in the Cuban official press.
The Brazilian ambassador recently explained in an interview with O Globo that armed groups tried to invade the Cuban diplomatic residence, “breaking a window, entering and threatening to take objects. The ambassador (…) had to intervene. He prevented the invasion,” he told the media.
After this incident, Santos met with the Cuban ambassador to Syria, Luis Mariano Fernández Rodríguez. Both were part of a convoy of 17 diplomats who on Monday, November 9, were “challenged” by a “heavily armed” local militia.
“They showed us their weapons and, after some communication difficulties, we understood that they did not want us to leave Damascus (…) We were loading our suitcases into the cars when a militia approached us (…) The embassy driver translated (…) I explained to him that we were doing our duty and that it was not a definitive withdrawal,” Santos said by telephone from Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
Last week, following the fall of its ally Bashar Al-Assad, the Cuban regime’s foreign ministry requested in an official statement that the “integrity and security” of diplomatic missions be respected. However, it has not made any statement on the fact that its embassy in Damascus was attacked by rebels.
In an official note from the regime’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX), respect was requested for diplomats and offices in the Syrian capital.
It was also reported that Cuban officials were acting under a “contingency plan” and that the Foreign Ministry was in “permanent contact with our diplomatic staff, who are well.”
In his statements to OGlobo, the Brazilian diplomat said that in recent days, before the fall of the regime, tension around the embassies had increased considerably and several European delegations had left Syria.
In addition to the Cuban Embassy, other diplomatic missions, such as that of Italy, were attacked by rebels in Damascus.
According to Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, after the fall of Al Assad an armed group entered the garden of the Italian ambassador’s residence in Damascus.
“There was no violence against the ambassador or the Carabinieri. They just took three cars and that was it. They spent some time in the garden. Obviously, they wanted to check if there were Assad soldiers or if there was any personal documentation,” Tajani added.
ADN Cuba contacted MINREX requesting information on these events, but has not received a response to date.
On the social network Facebook, the Cuban embassy in Syria has limited itself to highlighting that they are “a team of excellence in complex moments” that “always wins despite and against any obstacle that stands in the way.”
The Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, which has a correspondent in Syria, has not reported on the incident either.
Syria was under the rule of the Al-Assad family for 53 years, with an authoritarian and dictatorial regime that Castroism always defended.
Fidel Castro has repeatedly praised the “friendship” with this country and confirmed that “Syria constantly supports Havana’s political positions.”
In 1973, Castro even sent a brigade of Cuban tankers to war against Israel, in which his friend Hafez Al-Assad, father of the ousted Syrian president, participated.
In 2010, Bashar Al-Assad visited Cuba to reaffirm “the deep and unbreakable ties of friendship” between the two dictatorships
Weird. They don’t really look Cuban. Maybe they’re bred in some lab for special assignments.