The White House announced that US President Joe Biden informed Congress of his intention to lift the US designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, as part of an agreement facilitated by the Catholic Church to release political prisoners on the island.
Senior administration officials, who reviewed the announcement on 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 the US position toward Cuba.
“In taking these steps to strengthen the ongoing dialogue between the Government of Cuba and the Catholic Church, President Biden also respects the wisdom and advice given to him by many world leaders, especially in Latin America, who have encouraged him.” “They took these actions on how best to advance the human rights of the Cuban people,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
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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 ways to achieve this.
The State Department did not link the release of prisoners to the American decision to lift the designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, but “in the spirit of the ordinary jubilee of 2025 declared by His Holiness.”
The Cuban authorities did not say who is among the 553 people who will be released.
The outgoing Democrat’s decision will likely be reversed early next week after Trump, a Republican who is now president-elect, takes office and Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio takes over as America’s top diplomat.
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Rubio, whose family left Cuba in the 1950s before the communist revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, has long been an advocate of imposing sanctions on the communist island. Rubio will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday for his confirmation hearing and is expected to address his Cuban roots in his testimony.
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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.
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In the last days of the first Trump administration, on January 11, 2021, the White House reactivated this designation, which had been withdrawn 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.
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Trump’s move to designate Cuba was one of several foreign policy moves he made in the final days of his first term.
About six months after Trump designated Cuba a sponsor of terrorism, 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 power shortages and outages 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.
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The Cuban government recognized this declaration and expressed its gratitude, although it considered it “limited.”
“Despite its limited scope, this decision points in the right direction and is in line with the persistent and resolute request of the government and people of Cuba,” the Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
She added, “The decision announced by the United States today corrects, in a very limited way, some aspects of a harsh and unfair policy.”
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Congress and the incoming Trump administration will have the opportunity to review and possibly reverse Biden’s actions, although senior administration officials said the Biden administration has determined there is no “credible evidence” that Cuba is currently engaged in supporting international terrorism.
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The Cuban Foreign Ministry said the government was aware that the next government in the United States could reverse the decision, but would remain “ready to develop a respectful relationship with that country, based on dialogue and non-interference in Cuba’s internal affairs.” The two countries, despite their differences.
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, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, quickly denounced the Biden administration’s move.
“Today’s decision is unacceptable on its merits,” Cruz said in a statement. “The Cuban regime’s terrorism has not stopped. I will work with President Trump and my colleagues to immediately reverse the decision and limit the damage resulting from it.”
Representative Carlos Gimenez, a Republican from Florida, criticized the move and expected Trump to quickly reverse Biden’s decision.
“President Biden is a pathetic coward,” Jimenez posted on X. By January 20th there will be a new sheriff in town and President Trump along with Secretary of State @SenMarcoRubio will not only put Cuba back on the list, they will crush the regime. Once and for all!
Biden stressed in a national security memorandum issued on Tuesday that Cuba has not provided any support for international terrorism during the past six months and provided the administration with assurances that it will not support acts of terrorism in the future.
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The move comes after the administration in May removed Cuba from the State Department’s shortlist of countries it considered less fully cooperative against violent groups.
Associated Press writer Andrea Rodriguez in Havana, Cuba, contributed reporting.