Gunman attacks Cuban Embassy In Washington
These aren't the very best of times for Cuba. The COVID-19 crisis has deepened the communist island's crippling monetary shortages. And now, a gunman raised the exterior of Cuba's embassy in Washington early Thursday morning.
At about 2 a.m., Washington, D.C., police say an SUV pulled up at the Cuban embassy and a man jumped out with an assault rifle. Neighbors were awakened by a hail of gunfire that tore large bullet holes over the embassy's façade and right into a statue of Cuban hero José Martí.
Nobody was injured. Police quickly arrested the alleged shooter: Alexander Alazo, a 42-year-old man from Aubrey, Texas. He was charged with possessing an unregistered firearm (which had a high-capacity magazine) and assault with intent to kill.
What police and Secret Service agents - who investigate crimes against diplomatic missions - say they still don't possess is a motive. (The Associated Press reported Thursday afternoon a preliminary police report suspects the attack was a hate crime.) Alazo seems to have little if any social media footprint.
The state Cuban newspaper Granma said Alazo had not been on the communist government's radar screen of anti-Cuba militants in the U.S. In tweets, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said only they were awaiting an investigation by U.S. authorities and urged them to safeguard embassies there.
