HAVANA.- The Cuban government characterized on Tuesday in Havana the measures adopted by the European Union against Venezuela as coercive measures that will not contribute in the process of dialog promoted by President Nicolas Maduro in the search for peace in the South American nation.

Deputy Foreign Minister Rogelio Sierra Diaz told the press that the coercive measures adopted by the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council constitutes an interference in the internal affairs of the Bolivarian country.

He stressed that the sanctions are contrary to the principles of international law and the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Peace Zone, signed in Havana by the region’s Heads of States and Government during the 2nd Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States on January of 2014.

The Cuban diplomat added that it’s a contradiction that the Foreign Affairs Council decided that the only way to solve the situation in Venezuela is through constructive dialog and negotiation while conditioning the country with sanctions, selective black lists and limitations in international trade. The measures harms the Venezuelan people, said Sierra Diaz.

Cuba expresses its rejection to the sanctions against Venezuela and reiterates its unconditional solidarity with the Bolivarian and Chavista people, said the Deputy Foreign Minister. 

Sierra Diaz praised the South American nation’s civic-military union that supports the government headed by constitutional President Nicolas Maduro.

The EU’s Foreign Affairs Council approved joint legal actions last week to apply sanctions against Venezuela among them the creation of a list of people whose properties would be frozen or will be prohibited from entering EU territory.

The government of Nicolas Maduro characterized the measure as a hostile decision that attacks the Venezuelan people and almost a million Europeans who chose the South American country has their home and that have directly suffered the consequences of the political and economic violence generated by the right wing in recent months.