MIAMI — The United States will add Cuba back to its list of states accused of sponsoring terrorism in one of the Trump administration’s last foreign policy decisions before leaving office, a senior administration official told McClatchy.
President Donald Trump’s advisers have been weighing whether to return Cuba to the list for some time.
In January 2019, a senior administration official told the Miami Herald that the issue was being considered because of Cuban security and intelligence support for Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
A year later, the State Department included Cuba in its list of countries that do not cooperate with the United States in the fight against terrorism.
The Trump administration cited the Cuban government’s refusal to extradite to Colombia members of the National Liberation Army following a terrorist attack in Bogotá and a breakdown in peace talks. The agency also referred to the presence on the island of fugitives from U.S. justice.
The Obama administration eliminated Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism in 2015. That was one of the Cuban government’s main demands in order to agree to restore relations. Cuba had been on that list since 1982, when it was included because of Fidel Castro’s support of guerrillas in Central America.
The inclusion of Cuba again on the blacklist alongside North Korea, Syria and Iran is the culmination of the “maximum pressure” campaign launched by the Trump administration to punish the Cuban government for its support of Maduro and to dismantle the engagement policies promoted by Obama.
Trump vowed since early in his presidency to reverse “the terrible and misguided deal with the Castro regime.”
His government eliminated so-called “people-to-people” trips, limited flights and remittances to Cuba, prohibited Americans from staying in government hotels, and allowed lawsuits against companies suspected of “trafficking” with properties confiscated by Castro’s government.
The administration has also sanctioned Cuban military companies, government officials — including Raúl Castro — and punished companies that facilitate the shipment of Venezuelan oil to the island.
Cuba’s designation comes at a difficult time for the island, whose economy contracted 11% in 2020. The Cuban government has been unable to pay many international creditors due to a lack of liquidity.
Although the measure does not entail more economic sanctions, the announcement may further reduce foreign investment on the island, as most companies prefer to avoid possible fines or the legal costs of doing business in blacklisted countries.
According to John Kavulich, the president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade an Economic Council, returning Cuba to the list of state sponsors of terrorism will have practical consequences.
“Transactions with the Republic of Cuba would have an increase in scrutiny, resulting in fewer governments and companies wanting to engage with it,” he said. Insurance companies could suspend coverage of transactions and operations of ships and aircraft going to the island, he added.
The designation could also limit the range of exports from the U.S. to Cuba, including software and technology and other items for the support of the Cuban people, said Ric Herrero, executive director of the Cuba Study Group. It also triggers a Florida state law prohibiting state universities from using state funds for travel or research activities in blacklisted countries.
“It may also impact commercial travel, as banks that process transactions on behalf of airlines around the world have internal policies that prohibit business with SSOT-listed countries, and could pull out of licensed activities,” he said.
Herrero, a frequent critic of the Trump administration’s Cuba policies, said the designation seemed to be guided more by politics than “factual basis.”
“It appears to be another cynical play to hamstring the foreign policy of the incoming Biden administration and set the stage for the next election in Florida, all at the expense of Cuba and the Cuban people,” he said.
The public designation would further “poison” the atmosphere of bilateral relations, “but it would not significantly delay President Biden from re-engaging with Cuba,” said William LeoGrande, a professor of government at American University. He estimates the incoming administration could again remove Cuba from the list “in two or three months,” following the required bureaucratic process.
LeoGrande is one of the authors of a policy memo that asked the Biden administration to pursue normalization policies with Cuba.
