Biden administration announces plans to remove Cuba from state sponsor of terrorism list
CNN
The Biden administration announced on Tuesday it will remove Cuba from the state sponsor of terrorism list – a move taken in the twilight of the administration that is likely to reversed by the incoming team.
The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it will remove Cuba from the state sponsor of terrorism list – a move taken in the twilight of the administration that is likely to be reversed by the incoming team. President Joe Biden will notify Congress on Tuesday of his intent to lift the designation, a senior administration official said, noting that an “assessment has been completed, and we do not have information that supports Cuba’s designation.” Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism in January 2021 – just days before leaving office – saying at the time that Havana was “providing support for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbor to terrorists” after refusing to extradite leaders of a Colombian guerrilla organization who were in Havana for peace talks when a deadly bombing took place in the South American nation. Pompeo accused the nation of reneging on its commitments made when President Barack Obama took them off the list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2015. Cuba has been one of just four nations designated as state sponsors of terrorism, along with North Korea, Iran and Syria. Throughout the Biden administration, Cuban officials have advocated for their country’s removal as a state sponsor of terror, which triggers stringent economic sanctions in addition to more than the six decades old US embargo. In December, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel alongside former Cuban leader Raúl Castro led a march of thousands of Cubans in front of the US Embassy in Havana, calling for the removal of Cuba from the so-called terror list. Tuesday’s move to lift the designation was part of a multi-pronged announcement that also included a waiver of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, also known as the Libertad Act. The Trump administration in 2019 allowed the full implementation of this part of the act, which allowed US nationals to sue for damages over private property seized during the Cuban revolution. The move on Tuesday once again prevents US nationals from doing so.
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