MIAMI, United States. – The administration of President Joe Biden plans to withdraw the designation of Cuba as a “State sponsor of terrorism” this Tuesday, according to confirmed US officials familiar with the matter told the Associated Press (AP) news agency.
The informants, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the measure before its official announcement, noted that the lifting of this condition has not yet been made public.
The White House, through the National Security Council, declined to comment to the AP. However, the same officials indicated that the decision could be reversed as soon as next week, once President-elect Donald Trump takes office and future Secretary of State, Marco Rubiotake his position as the head of US foreign policy.
Just a month ago, the Counterterrorism Bureau of the United States Department of State, in its Country Report on Terrorism (CRT, for its acronym in English), kept Cuba on the list for harboring several fugitives from US justice wanted on charges related to political violence, many of whom have been residing on the Island for decades.
Cuba, which appears along with North Korea, Iran and Syria on this list, is one of the countries that Washington accuses of giving “repeated support to acts of terrorism international”.
The report notes that the Caribbean country has a long history “of providing advice, safe haven, communications, training and financial support to guerrilla groups and individual terrorists,” which is why its inclusion in the list was initially proposed. 1982.
Cuba’s designation was rescinded in 2015 after a thorough review determined that the country met the criteria to be removed from the list.
Later, in 2021, the Secretary of State determined that the Island had repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism in the six years since the revocation of its designation.
Among the reasons given, they alleged that Cuba rejected Colombia’s request to extradite 10 leaders of the National Liberation Army (ELN) who lived in Havana after that group claimed responsibility for the 2019 attack against a police academy in Bogotá. in which 22 people died and another 87 were injured.
“The Cuban Government did not respond formally to the requests of extradition of ELN leaders Víctor Orlando Cubides (alias ‘Pablo Tejada’) and Ramírez Pineda (alias ‘Pablo Beltrán’) presented by Colombia, the text cites.
The appearance of Cuba on this list as a State sponsor of terrorism entails a series of sanctions, among which the prohibition of export and arms sales; controls on exports of dual-use products, which require 30 days’ advance notification to Congress for goods or services that could significantly enhance the terrorist country’s military capabilities or its ability to support terrorism.
In December 2024, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that Washington’s policy towards the Cuban regime would not change during President Joe Biden’s remaining time in the White House.
Blinken’s statements came during a hearing of the Congressional Foreign Relations Committee in which Cuban-American Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar asked him directly if Cuba was under consideration for removal from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.
In response, the Secretary of State reiterated: “I do not foresee any changes to our policy between now and January 20.”
Already in May, Washington had removed Cuba from the list of countries that do not fully cooperate in the fight against terrorisma minor gesture compared to the impact of remaining on the main list of sponsors of terrorism.
On that occasion, Blinken assured that Cuba’s departure from said list was due to the fact that the Colombian Government, chaired by Gustavo Petrohad suspended the extradition orders on the members of the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN) who were on the Island. Furthermore, he justified that the Government of Joe Biden had “resumped police cooperation with Cuba as part of the national interest” of the US.
