Edited by: TJVNews.com
Cuba on Wednesday warned the outgoing US administration against redesignating the island as a state sponsor of terrorism, according to a Yahoo News report.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is reviewing the possibility before leaving office on January 20 of returning Cuba to the blacklist, which severely impedes foreign investment, a person familiar with the situation said, as was reported by Yahoo News. Should this move be taken by the Trump administration, the report indicated that it could become a road block on the trajectory to patching up US-Cuba relations under the incoming Biden administration.
Quoting an unnamed senior administration official, CNN said that Pompeo would make the designation “in the coming days.”
The New York Times first reported that the State Department had drawn up the proposal but said it was unclear if Pompeo would sign off on it, according to the Yahoo News report.
“I denounce Sec of State Pompeo maneuvers to include #Cuba in the list of States sponsoring terrorism to please the anti-Cuban minority in Florida,” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez wrote on Twitter, as was reported by Yahoo News.
“#US grants shelter and impunity to terrorist groups acting against Cuba from that territory,” he said, in a familiar charge against Cuban-American anti-communist activists who deny any wrongdoing.
Yahoo reported that the discussion comes ahead of the 60th anniversary on January 3 of the United States severing relations with the nearby island following Fidel Castro’s communist revolution.
CNN reported that the United States officially removed Cuba from its list of countries that sponsor terrorism in 2015, as part of a short-lived burst of rapprochement during the Obama years.
Ties between Cuba and the United States began to deteriorate in 2017, when the Trump administration not only levied punishing economic sanctions on the communist-run government but curtailed permission for US citizens to travel to the island, according to the CNN report. The administration also effectively ended legal remittances sent from Cuban Americans to family members in Cuba and canceled a wide array of other Obama-era policies, including allowing US cruise ships to visit the island and Major League Baseball to recruit Cuban players.
When asked for a response to the Times report, a State Department spokesperson told CNN that “we do not discuss deliberations or potential deliberations regarding designations.” The White House declined to comment on the record when reached by CNN.
AFP reported that Trump’s tough stance on Cuba and its ally Venezuela was credited with wooing immigrant communities and helping him win the crucial state of Florida in last month’s election.
Increased sanctions by the Trump administration and disruption of the tourism industry by the coronavirus pandemic have already battered the island’s struggling economy.
On December 21st the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added three Cuban military-owned companies to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List).
The announcement was posted on the State Department web site and it said:
“All property and interests in property of these entities that are in the United States or in the possession or control of persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction continue to be blocked and must be reported to OFAC.
The companies are Grupo de Administración Empresarial SA (GAESA), FINCIMEX, and Kave Coffee S.A. GAESA is the Cuban military’s largest company, which controls large portions of Cuba’s economy for the military’s benefit. Cuban military-controlled FINCIMEX funnels remittances through channels that disproportionately benefit the Cuban military. Kave Coffee S.A., a coffee company domiciled in Havana and incorporated in Panama, is part of an international network of Cuban-owned companies maintained by the Cuban military and used to evade the U.S. embargo.
The revenue generated from the Cuban military’s economic activities is used to entrench the Cuban military’s control, prop up the Cuban Communist Party’s power, oppress the Cuban people, and fund Cuba’s interference in Venezuela. Today’s action demonstrates the United States’ long-standing commitment to ending economic practices that disproportionately benefit the Cuban government or its military, intelligence, and security agencies or personnel, at the expense of the Cuban people. It also demonstrates the United States’ commitment to disrupting Cuba’s malign support for the illegitimate Maduro regime in Venezuela.”
The United States will continue to support the Cuban people in their desire for a democratic government and respect for human rights, including freedom of religion, expression, and association. Until these rights and freedoms are respected, we will continue to hold the regime accountable.”
Yahoo News reported that Biden could again remove Cuba from the blacklist but his State Department would need to undertake a formal review that declares that the country has not been involved in terrorism over the previous six months.
