Biden lifts Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism

US President Joe Biden intends to lift Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, the White House announced Announced TuesdayAs part of a deal facilitated by the Catholic Church to release political prisoners on the island.

Senior US administration officials, who were briefed on the announcement on the condition of anonymity, said that “dozens” of political prisoners and others who the United States considers to be unjustly detained will be released by the end of the Biden administration’s term at noon on January 20.

The United States will also ease some economic pressure on Cuba, in addition to a 2017 memorandum issued by former President Donald Trump to toughen Washington’s stance toward Cuba.

The White House press said that Biden “respects the wisdom and advice given to him by many world leaders, especially in Latin America, who have encouraged him to take these actions on how best to advance the human rights of the Cuban people.” Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the government had informed Pope Francis that it would release 553 people convicted of various crimes. She said that they will be released gradually, while the authorities study legal and humanitarian options.

The ministry did not link their release to the US decision, but said it came “in the spirit of the ordinary jubilee of 2025” announced by Pope Francis.

The Cuban authorities did not say who is among the 553 people who will be released.

It is unlikely to last

The outgoing president’s decision is likely to be reversed early next week after Trump, the president-elect, takes office and US Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio becomes the country’s top diplomat.

Rubio, whose family left Cuba in the 1950s before the communist revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, has long been a proponent of sanctions against the island nation. Rubio is scheduled to appear before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday for his confirmation hearing and is expected to address his Cuban roots in his testimony.

Trump also appointed Mauricio Claver-Carone, a former White House National Security Council aide and a vocal supporter of sanctions against Cuba, to be his special envoy to Latin America.

In the final days of the first Trump administration, on January 11, 2021, the White House RenameThis was reflected during the period of rapprochement between Cuba and the United States during President Barack Obama’s second term in office. In doing so, the Trump administration cited Cuba’s support for Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and its refusal to extradite Colombian rebels to Colombia, among other issues, including its continued harboring of wanted Americans.

Biden-era sanctions

About six months later, the Biden administration imposed new sanctions on island officials and the National Revolutionary Police after hundreds of Cubans were arrested during demonstrations in Havana and other cities protesting electricity shortages, blackouts and government policies. These protests were the first of their kind since the 1990s.

Human rights groups and activists, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are pressing the Biden administration to lift the designation to alleviate the suffering of the Cuban people who are feeling the impact of Cuba’s economic isolation.

The Cuban government recognized this declaration and expressed its gratitude, although it considered it “limited.”

“The decision announced by the United States today corrects, in a very limited way, some aspects of the harsh and unfair policy,” the State Department said in a press release.

“There is no reliable evidence”

Senior US administration officials said that the Biden administration has determined that there is “no credible evidence” that Cuba is currently involved in supporting international terrorism.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry said the government was aware that the next US government could reverse the decision, but that it would remain “ready to develop a respectful relationship with that country.”

There was no immediate comment from Trump’s transition team, Rubio or his office, but one of his Republican colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, quickly denounced the move.

“Today’s decision is unacceptable on its merits,” Cruz said in a statement. He added, “The terrorism practiced by the Cuban regime has not stopped. I will work with President Trump and my colleagues to immediately reverse and limit the damage resulting from the decision.”

In a national security memorandum issued Tuesday, Biden stressed that Cuba has provided no support for international terrorism over the past six months and provided the administration with assurances that it will not support acts of terrorism in the future.

The move comes after the administration in May removed Cuba from the State Department’s shortlist of countries it considers less than fully cooperative against violent groups.