Outgoing US President Joe Biden said he was inspired to act after receiving “wisdom and advice” from other world leaders.
The United States will remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, the White House has confirmed, in a deal that will see the release of some of the island’s political prisoners.
In a preview of what will be one of the final acts of the outgoing Biden administration, senior US officials said Cuba would liberate “several dozen” of prisoners before the inauguration of Donald Trump on Monday.
As part of a deal negotiated with the help of the Catholic Church, the United States will also ease some economic pressures on Cuba. However, the trade embargo imposed on the island for decades will be maintained.
US President Joe Biden decided to lift Cuba’s designation as a terrorist country after considering “the wisdom and advice given to him by many world leaders, particularly in Latin America”said Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, in a statement.
The move, which makes Iran, North Korea and Syria the only countries accused by the United States of supporting terrorism, reverses a policy reintroduced by the Trump administration in January 2021. The designation had been previously deleted by Barack Obama.
A senior Joe Biden official explained on Tuesday that an assessment on Cuba had been carried out, showing that “We do not have information that supports the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.”
Cuban authorities welcomed the White House’s decision, while recognizing that it could be reversed by Donald Trump.
“Despite its limited scope, this is a decision that goes in the right direction and is consistent with the sustained and firm demand of the Cuban government and people”declared the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He added that Joe Biden’s action “rectifies, in a very limited way, certain aspects of a cruel and unjust policy.”
However, the ministry also said that the economic sanctions imposed by the United States on Cuba, which it described as “economic war”, had a high cost for the Cuban population.
Cuba has not linked the lifting of the terrorism designation to its upcoming release of prisoners. On the other hand, she declared that she would release 553 people “in the spirit of mercy”encouraged by Pope Francis during this year’s jubilee.
Although authorities have not specified which prisoners would be affected, it is likely that many of them are from those detained during large protests that took place on the island in July 2021.
That summer, hundreds of people were arrested for demonstrating against the island’s communist government, in protests sparked by difficult living conditions, including a shortage of food and medicine.
Some Republicans were quick to criticize Joe Biden’s decision on Cuba, saying things would be different under Donald Trump.
Florida Rep. Carlos Giménez said on X that Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, his pick for secretary of state, would act to “pulverize the (Cuban) regime once and for all.”
ADVERTISEMENTRubio, whose family fled Cuba in the 1950s, is a strong supporter of economic sanctions against the island.
