The Biden administration has notified Congress that it will remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in a deal that senior Biden officials said would help free political prisoners held by the country’s communist government.
The deal, which administration officials said was negotiated through the Catholic church, was announced on Tuesday, just five days before Biden exits the White House and Donald Trump is inaugurated as the country’s 47th president.
“An assessment has been completed and we do not have information that supports Cuba’s designation as being a state sponsor of terrorism,” a senior administration official briefed reporters on Tuesday.
“The Catholic church is significantly advancing an agreement with Cuba to undertake a set of actions that will allow for the humanitarian release of a significant number of political prisoners in Cuba and those who have been detained unjustly,” the official said.
Trump designated the country as a state sponsor of terrorism in 2021 shortly before he left office for “repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbor to terrorists”. Cuba had previously been removed from that list under Barack Obama.
Trump’s decision enforced sanctions that “penalize persons and countries engaging in certain trade with Cuba, restricts US foreign assistance, bans defense exports and sales, and imposes certain controls on exports of dual use items”. The decision to repeal the status may help alleviate a significant humanitarian crisis on the island, which is less than 100 miles from the coast of Florida.
Trump may still decide to redesignate the country as a state sponsor of terrorist after his inauguration on 20 January. Some Republican lawmakers criticised the decision and said they would work with Trump to reverse it.
Rick Scott, a conservative senator from Florida, called the decision “Joe Biden’s parting gift to dictators and terrorists around the world” and said it was “reckless and dangerous”.
“Biden’s appeasement is feeding right into the hands of Cuba’s dictators, who fuel terrorism and oppress their people,” he said. “I’ll be working with President Trump on DAY ONE to hold the Communist Cuban regime accountable and free the Cuban people.”
More details soon…