Molotov Cocktails Thrown At Cuban Embassy In Washington; Foreign Minister Calls It 'Terrorist Attack'

Cuba's embassy in Washington was attacked by an assailant using two Molotov cocktails on Sunday night, the country's foreign minister said.

The country's foreign affairs minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, took to social media to address the incident, calling it a "terrorist attack." He also added that nobody was hurt during the 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," he stated in a post on social media platform X.

The attack took place just hours after Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel returned to Havana after attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which took place last week.

Details regarding the suspect were not released by the authorities.

"The anti-Cuban groups resort to terrorism when feeling they enjoy impunity, something that Cuba has repeatedly warned the US authorities about," said Rodríguez, following the incident Sunday.

This marks the second reported assault on the Cuban mission in Washington within the past few years, following an incident in April 2020, when a man from Texas had opened fire outside the embassy, damaging the building. No injuries were reported in that attack.

The U.S. authorities subsequently arrested Alexander Alazo, then 42, in connection with the attack. He had fired at least 32 shots from an assault-style rifle at the building, which resulted in several bullet holes in exterior walls and columns, damage to a street lamp, and broken panes of glass and moldings on the front of the building.

According to the US Justice Department, Alazo was charged with multiple offenses including interstate transport of a firearm and ammunition, violent attack on a foreign official or official premises using a deadly weapon, willfully injuring or damaging property belonging to or occupied by a foreign government in the United States.

The Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of Cuba to the United States of America. It was originally constructed in 1917 as the Cuban embassy, and served in that capacity until the United States severed relations with Cuba in 1961. The embassy reopened in 2015 under former US President Barack Obama following the formal restoration of diplomatic relations between the countries.