On the 78th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel today called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons.

Havana, Cuba.- On Twitter, the Head of State wrote: “78 years of the horror that burned 170,000 human beings with their goods and their memories.”

“There is only one way to avoid repetition: the total, irreversible, and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons. #CubaForLife.”

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ordered by then US President Harry S. Truman on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively, killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of people, as well as caused illness among the surviving victims.

It is estimated that between 15 and 20 percent of those affected, mostly civilians, died from injuries or ailments attributed to poisoning due to the radiation released by the deflagrations that destroyed both cities.

Since then, thousands of people have suffered from leukemia and various types of cancers, among other ailments related to the U.S. nuclear legacy. (PL)