
Biden will remove Cuba from Terrorism list (+Español)
News services are reporting that the White House will soon announce the removal of Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list. President Obama removed Cuba from the List before leaving office in 2017, only to have President Trump reinsert the island nation in January 2021, days before the end of his first term.
“On Tuesday, a Biden administration official said an assessment of the situation had presented ‘no information’ that supported the designation,” reported the BBC. Cuba said the move was a step “in the right direction” despite its “limited nature.” The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs added, “This decision puts an end to specific coercive measures that, along with many others, cause serious damage to the Cuban economy, with a severe effect on the population.”
In exchange for its removal from the SSOT list, Cuba has agreed to release some protesters imprisoned after large anti-government protests over the nation’s economic decline in 2021. The BBC also reported that a White House official said that a “significant” number of prisoners would be released “in short order” as part of the deal, facilitated by the Catholic Church.
Biden eliminará a Cuba de la lista de países terroristas (+English)
Cuba currently sits alongside North Korea, Syria, and Iran on the SSOT list.
The New York Times reported that “many experts have long criticized Cuba’s inclusion on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.”
William LeoGrande, a Cuba expert at American University, told the Times that “the statute that creates the terrorism list specifies giving material support to terrorists or harboring terrorists who are actively engaged in terrorism while you are harboring them … Cuba just hasn’t done those things.”
Later on Tuesday afternoon, the Miami Herald added to the SSOT report saying that “In a last-minute move before he leaves office next week, President Joe Biden removed Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism, lifted sanctions on companies run by Cuba’s military and again suspended a provision in a law that allows Cuban Americans to seek compensation for confiscated property on the island.
The three measures announced Tuesday were described as ‘unilateral’ actions taken by President Biden as a ‘gesture of good will’ to facilitate a deal mediated by the Catholic Church that would lead to the release of Cuban political prisoners, including people who took part in the island-wide July 11, 2021, demonstrations, a senior administration official told reporters.”