Biden to Remove Cuba From State Sponsors of Terrorism List
(Bloomberg) -- The White House will remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, part of a series of steps to ease US policy toward the communist country in a bid to secure the release of political prisoners.
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The move, announced by senior administration officials on the condition of anonymity Tuesday, faces an uncertain future with Donald Trump returning to the White House next week.
President Joe Biden also will eliminate some prohibitions on financial transactions with certain Cuban entities. In exchange, the US expects Cuba to release on humanitarian grounds a significant number of people arrested for protests against the government in July 2021, an understanding brokered with the help of the Roman Catholic Church, the officials said.
The officials emphasized that the US action is a unilateral gesture of goodwill, and said they anticipate some detainees being released by the Cuban government before Biden leaves office next Monday. Officials declined to say how many people they expected to be released as part of the deal, but the US does believe that the Cuban government will move quickly.
Hours later, the Cuban Foreign Ministry announced that it would gradually free 553 prisoners who were being held “for diverse crimes and after a careful analysis.” President Miguel Díaz-Canel stated his intention to release the prisoners in a letter to Pope Francis earlier this month, according to the ministry
The ministry said in a second statement that the releases were part of an existing amnesty program. Neither statement mentioned the US decision.
Biden will issue a waiver under the Helms-Burton Act that will suspend the ability of individuals to bring claims in US courts regarding potentially expropriated Cuban property. And he is rescinding a presidential memorandum creating a restricted list of entitles within Cuba prohibited from some financial transactions.
It’s unclear how long the easing of policy will remain in place, given that Trump has been a strong critic of the Cuban government and chosen Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles, as his secretary of State.
Earlier: Trump’s Hawkish Cabinet Pick Heightens Pressure on Weakened Cuba
The Biden administration officials said that Trump’s team will have the opportunity to review the decision to remove Cuba from the terrorism sponsors list.
Mike Waltz, Trump’s incoming national security advisor, hailed the release of political prisoners, whom he said “should have never been held in the first place” but cautioned that “no one should be under any illusion in terms of a change in Cuba policy.”
Waltz, in an interview with Fox News, expressed concern over the Helms-Burton Act waiver, saying “it’s not clear how that’s going to affect things in court.”
“We don’t like it, but again, you know, people are going free,” he added.
Cuba’s economy has floundered in recent years, with severe shortages aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic and tighter US sanctions imposed by Trump. Mass street protests broke out in July 2021 that sparked a brutal government crackdown, sparking widespread criticism for human rights violations.
The US has a trade embargo on Cuba that was first imposed more than six decades ago after Fidel Castro seized power.
“This is a decision in the right direction, although it was taken late and with limited scope,” Díaz-Canel wrote on his official X account. “The embargo and most of the extreme measures that were put in place in 2017 to suffocate the Cuban economy and cause shortages for our people remain in place.”
Díaz-Canel said that while Cuba would continue to denounce actions targeting the country, “we will not give up on developing a civilized relationship with the US that respects our sovereignty.”
Governments including Brazil, Colombia and Chile as well as the European Union had urged the US to remove Cuba from the terrorism sponsors list, the administration officials said.
Countries on the list are “determined by the secretary of State to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism,” according to the State Department’s website. Because of the designation, Cuba faces restrictions on foreign aid, defense, exports and financial transactions.
--With assistance from Jim Wyss.
(Updates with statement from Cuban foreign ministry, starting in fifth paragraph.)
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