Cuba's US Embassy Hit by Molotov Cocktail in DC

No significant damage and no one injured
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 25, 2023 9:30 AM CDT
Cuban Embassy in US Hit (Poorly) by Molotov Cocktail
The Cuban Embassy is seen in Washington, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. US law enforcement officials have launched an investigation after at least one Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Cuban Embassy in Washington. There was no fire or significant damage to the building.   (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

At least one Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, reports the AP, but there was no significant damage and no one was injured. US law enforcement officials were investigating. Secret Service officers were called around 8pm ET on Sunday to respond to the attack on a busy street in the Adams Morgan section of the city. Embassy officials reported that someone had thrown a "possible incendiary device" at the building, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Monday. There was no fire or significant damage to the building, he said. No arrests had been made.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said on the X social media site that the Cuban Embassy "was the target of a terrorist attack by an individual who launched 2 Molotov cocktails," a type of crude grenade made from a bottle filled with flammable liquid and a wick that's lit just before it's thrown. He said no one was injured. A rep for the Cuban Embassy didn't immediately respond to a request for additional information on Monday. Cuba built the embassy in 1917. It closed in January 1961 as Cold War tensions between the two countries escalated, then reopened as an "interests section" in 1977. In July 2015, it became an embassy once again as the two countries restored relations under then-President Obama and President Raul Castro.

In 2020, a Cuban man who sought asylum in the US opened fire with an AK-47 at the Cuban Embassy, spraying the front of the building with nearly three dozen rounds. Authorities said the man told them he opened fire because he wanted to "get them before they could get him." The shooting left bullet holes in the glass around the embassy's door, and bullets pierced the bronze statue of Jose Marti, the Cuban writer and national hero, as well as the columns and facade of the building. The embassy is on a busy street between the embassies of Poland and Lithuania.

(More Cuba stories.)

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