Cuba rejects US human trafficking blacklist

Havana, June 22:

dismissed a

report which put the island nation on a blacklist of "

countries."

"The Cuban government rejects categorically as unfounded this unilateral move offending our people," Xinhua quoted Josefina Vidal, director-general of the US department at the Cuban foreign ministry, as saying in a statement.

"Cuba has not requested the US assessment, nor needed recommendations from the US, a country with the gravest problem of trafficking children and women in the world," the statement said.

The US State Department released its annual report Friday along with a list of 189 countries ranked by the level of compliance with the law on protection of victims of trafficking.

Cuba was blacklisted among 23 countries for failing to meet the standards against human trafficking. Cuba's official Granma newspaper described the US report as "manipulative" and "politically motivated."

IANS