Cuba was placed on list in 1982 but has ‘provided assurances it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future’ yet economic sanctions remain

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The United States has formally dropped Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, the State Department announced on Friday, adding a symbolic punctuation mark to talks that aim to end decades of antagonism.

The removal of Cuba from the terrorism list eliminates an obstacle to restoring diplomatic ties between the countries after a 50-year estrangement. Cuban diplomats had urged rescission as a condition of normalizing relations, alongside the restoration of bank services for Cubans in the US.

But the removal will have a limited impact on US economic sanctions, which remain in place under the embargo that has been imposed by Congress for decades.

Rescinding the designation against Cuba is “an important step”, an American official told Reuters, before qualifying that “as a practical matter, most restrictions related to exports and foreign aid will remain due to the comprehensive trade and arms embargo”.

Taking Cuba off the list has two main consequences, diplomatic and economic, said Christopher Sabatini, a Columbia University professor who specializes in Cuba studies.

“This is something that for a long time sort of stuck in the craw of the Cubans, who really resented being lumped together with countries like Iran and Syria,” he said.

“So it’s important on a diplomatic, transactional level, and on a financial one while it doesn’t remove all the obstacles, it eases the possibility of one of Obama’s principle reforms and opens up opportunities for US travellers and banks.”

Sabatini said that with Cuba off the list, American banks and credit card companies would have less to fear of the risks to their reputation and finances that could be imposed by the bad publicity and potential fines of doing business with a designated sponsor of terror.

The next steps, Sabatini suggested, were discussions about freedom of movement for American diplomats in Cuba, who face tight restrictions on where they can go and whom they can meet, for fear of their fomenting dissent among citizens.

“This is a game of chess,” Sabatini said. “These are not friendly countries, there are decades of distrust. But the next move is basically Cuba’s for normalizing relations, and the question is will it allow for the unfettered travel of US diplomats.

“President Obama has gone out on a limb here, it’s a risky move. There’s very vocal opposition to these changes and they will cry foul unless these concessions are reciprocated.”

While some businesses and travelers have taken advantage of the relaxed rules surrounding Cuba, major banks and financial institutions remain wary of the legal minefield put in place by the embargo.

“The embargo is still the big 800lb gorilla in the room,” said David Schwartz, chief executive of the Florida International Bankers Association. “Lifting the terror designation is a help to foreign banks that are dealing with Cuba and have had that concern, and this may in their mind ease that burden.

“But although the administration is pushing to the limit of what they can do, to go any further would require lifting the embargo,” he said.

In December, Obama ordered the State Department to review Cuba’s presence on the terror list and report back to him within six months, as part of his administration’s new policy toward the island nation.

Obama to remove Cuba from list of state sponsors of terrorism Read more

When that review was complete, Obama wrote to Congress in April, saying the Cuban government had “not provided any support for international terrorism” in the past six months, and had “provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future”.

In its statement on Friday, the State Department said: “While the United States has significant concerns and disagreements with a wide range of Cuba’s policies and actions, these fall outside the criteria relevant to the rescission of a State Sponsor of Terrorism designation.”



A handful of outspoken congressman, including Florida senator and Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio, immediately denounced rapprochement. Rubio said that to take Cuba off the list would be a “terrible mistake”, but he and allies such as representatives Pete King and Scott Garrett failed to muster congressional resistance against the rescission.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush agreed with Rubio, his unofficial rival for the Republican 2016 nomination, in calling the move a mistake.

“Obama seems more interested in capitulating to our adversaries than in confronting them,” he said

Cuba was placed on the list in 1982 for supporting communist rebels in Latin America and Africa, but the US has not accused the island nation of direct military assistance for a foreign terrorist group in years.



Recent State Department reports have criticized Cuba for offering safe haven to members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Farc, and the Basque separatist group Eta. Cuba has since distanced itself from Eta, and is currently hosting peace talks between Farc and the Colombian government.



Cuba-US thaw brings fate of cold war-era fugitives on the island into focus Read more

Frank Calzon of the Center for Free Cuba, a pro-democracy group, brought up Farc as well as American fugitives who fled to Cuba in his criticism of the Obama administration.

“The president has given up the one leverage he had to obtain fugitives that murdered Americans and who are enjoying the hospitality of the Castro regime,” he said.



“Cuba’s listing as a sponsor of terror was renewed for years under this president. I think it’s shameful that Mr Obama acquiesced to Raúl Castro’s pressure.”

Both the president and Congress were criticized by Joe Connor, an American whose father was killed by a bomb set by Puerto Rican nationalists, one of whom escaped prison to Cuba.

“We are truly living in an upside-down society,” Connor said, when “Obama capitulates to the likes of Cuba and then Congress, who is supposed to represent the people, capitulates to Obama.”

But the Cuban-American community has grown increasingly divided by age and politics, as evinced by other groups who voiced support for the removal.

The Washington DC-based Cuba Study Group said it was “pleased” by the rescission from the list. “For years, the arguments justifying Cuba’s continued inclusion [were] becoming more political than factual,” the group said, before urging Congress to lift the embargo.

“While today’s announcement is important and symbolic, the US’s complex web of codified sanctions still create significant obstacles which hinder our ability to assist Cuba’s civil society and thus facilitate peaceful change,” its statement read.

Younger Cuban Americans have also supported rapprochement with Cuba, forming organizations such as Cuba Now, which supports greater business ties between US and Cuban companies. Ric Herrero, executive director of the group, welcomed the change of Cuba’s status. Conceding “there is much to criticize about the Cuban government’s repressive practices”, he described Cuba’s place on the list as “the result of domestic political calculations rather than factual findings”.

“By lifting the designation, a cloud is lifted that will make it easier for US citizens and American businesses to embrace the new regulatory environment in support of the Cuban people.”

Roots for Hope, a nonprofit led by young people in the Miami area, similarly advocates for greater interaction with Cubans, and has allied with tech companies to build internet infrastructure on the island.

The only countries that will now remain on the US terror list are Iran, Sudan and Syria.