By Trevor Hunnicutt and Dave Sherwood
WASHINGTON/HAVANA (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will ease sanctions targeting longtime foe Cuba days before Donald Trump takes office on Tuesday in a sweeping series of steps he hopes will lead to the release of political prisoners in Havana.
As part of the move, Biden is rolling back several hard-line restrictions imposed by Trump, his predecessor and the president-elect. Those steps include notifying Congress of plans to revoke the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism and reversing a Trump order that restricted some financial transactions with some Cubans tied to the military and government, according to a senior administration official.
Biden was also supposed to suspend the ability of individuals to use U.S. courts to file claims for assets potentially seized in Cuba after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, the official said.
The moves were linked to Cuba’s expected release of a “significant” number of political prisoners, following talks between the communist government and the Catholic Church.
Cuba has faced sharp criticism from human rights groups, the United States and the European Union after jailing hundreds of protesters following the July 11, 2021 riots, the biggest since Castro’s revolution.
The announcements, just days before Biden leaves office, mark his first real policy break from Trump-era sanctions that have contributed to one of Cuba’s worst economic crises.
Trump may seek to revive the sanctions once he takes office.
But in the short term, Biden’s new measures were expected to give Havana more room to maneuver as it grapples with a severe economic crisis.
Trump placed Cuba on the 2021 US State Sponsors of Terrorism list in the final hours of his first term, saying Havana had repeatedly provided “support for acts of international terrorism” by harboring US fugitives and Colombian rebel leaders.
Cuba has rejected the accusations, calling the designation a farce and seeking removal from the list, which includes a ban on US economic aid, a ban on US arms exports and enough geopolitical flaws to make even Cuba’s closest allies suspicious of doing business with the island.
