President Biden will remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, US officials announced Tuesday, as part of a deal that is expected to free protesters jailed during a sweeping crackdown on dissent by the communist government in 2021.
Removing Cuba from the list would normally raise expectations of improved relations between Washington and Havana and renewed hope for economic investment in Cuba.
But Mr. Biden’s decision is just the latest in a series of conflicting US approaches to Cuba by different administrations. The Obama administration made the decision to remove the terrorism designation for Cuba as part of a broader effort to normalize relations with the nation. But days before President Donald J. Trump leaves office in 2021, his administration put Cuba back on the list.
The decision of Mr. Biden was honored for “the wisdom and advice given to him by many world leaders, especially in Latin America, who encouraged him to take these actions, on how best to advance the human rights of the Cuban people,” according to a statement from the White House press secretary. Karine Jean-Pierre.
Choice of Mr. Trump’s choice for secretary of state in his new term, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, is likely to oppose the 11th-hour actions of Mr. Biden in Cuba. Mr. Rubio’s family fled the island to the United States before Fidel Castro’s revolution took power in 1959, and he has long been one of the Republican Party’s leading advocates for a hardline stance against Cuba.
Mauricio Claver-Caronewho was recently named Mr. Trump’s envoy for Latin America, scoffed at the announcement. “Whether it’s Venezuela last year or now Cuba, the Biden administration seems to like fake deals that favor authoritarian anti-American regimes,” he said, referring to the 2023 prisoner swap with Venezuela.
Asked if the Trump administration would immediately reverse the decision, he said: “There is a process, so it will take time, but in the meantime we can take other measures that will have an even greater impact.”
Mr. Biden’s decision is the latest in a series ecological, immigration and foreign policy actions recorded in the last weeks of his presidential term before Mr. Trump back in the White House.
If confirmed, Mr. Biden’s move could help the Cuban economy. Terrorist designation opens a nation to economic sanctions, including restrictions on access to US aid and a ban on defense exports and sales. according to the State Department. Major banks stopped doing business with Cuba because it was too much trouble to make sure the country met all the requirements to do business there legally. However, even without a terrorist designation, Cuba would still have to contend with a trade embargo imposed by the United States.
John S. Kavulich, president of the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a business group, said American companies will not change their position on Cuba because they are aware of the fragility of relations between the two nations. He said the move would likely be reversed as soon as Mr. Rubio “hands President Trump a pen.”
“Every pound gained by the Biden-Harris administration is not worth the quo,” he said.
Removing Cuba from the list leaves only North Korea, Iran and Syria on it.
The Biden administration’s announcement included measures to ease economic sanctions against Cuba. U.S. officials said they would waive a provision of a 1996 law that allowed people to file lawsuits in U.S. courts over property expropriated by the Cuban government. The Biden administration will also rescind a Trump-era national security memorandum that imposed sanctions on Cuban military entities — which oversee the hotel industry — and made it harder for U.S. tour operators to bring in large groups.
American officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to see Mr. Biden’s decision, said the United States was taking action as part of an effort, encouraged by the Catholic Church, to free political prisoners.
Hundreds of protesters were detained in July 2021 in a brutal crackdown after one of the largest protests in Cuba since the communist government took power nearly six decades ago. The protesters were angry about the nation’s lack of freedom and severe economic decline.
Human rights groups say some of those arrested during and after the protests did were tortured and that many were sentenced to long prison terms after unfair trials. There are about 1,000 political prisoners serving sentences in Cuba, and about half of their cases are related to the July 2021 protest, rights groups said.
In a statementCuba’s foreign ministry said President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez had decided to “gradually” release 553 people “who were convicted, in accordance with the law, of several crimes punishable by law” after a meeting with Pope Francis. This move was made in recognition of the Catholic Church’s jubilee, a special year of mercy and forgiveness.
Alejandro González Raga, a dissident who was released in a 2008 deal and sent to Spain, stressed that at least four of Cuba’s main opposition leaders also remained imprisoned and that they and all remaining political prisoners should be released without any conditions or forced exile.
But some in Cuba have expressed doubt about that possibility.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” said Eloy Pedroso, whose son, also named Eloy, was sentenced to five years in prison after appearing on national television at the age of 18 throwing rocks at police.
In a post on social networks, Mr. Díaz-Canel thanked all those who contributed to the decision to remove Cuba from the list, which he said should never have been on it, which “has a high price for Cuban families.”
“We will continue to oppose and condemn economic warfare and interference, disinformation and discredit operations funded by US federal funds,” he said.
Many experts have long criticized Cuba’s inclusion on the list of state sponsors of terrorism and blamed that status for the cause of the difficult financial situation that fueled the humanitarian and migration crisis on the island. The Cuban government has struggled in recent months to keep electricity and supply to stores.
“The statute that creates the terrorist list is providing material support to terrorists or harboring terrorists who are actively engaged in terrorism while you are harboring them,” said William M. LeoGrande, a Cuba expert at American University. “Cuba just didn’t do those things.”
A few American fugitives live in Cuba, but they should not be counted because they are Americans who have been involved in politically motivated violence in the United States, not international terrorists, Mr. LeoGrande said.
Another reason was given keeping Cuba on the list was its refusal to extradite members of Colombia’s rebel group, the National Liberation Army, also known as the ELN. The rebels were given safe passage to Cuba to participate in peace talks, which later collapsed. But Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, recently asked the Biden administration to remove Cuba from the list, which was one of the key factors motivating the Biden administration, according to one US official.
Juan Pappier, deputy director of the US division of Human Rights Watch, said Mr. Biden’s move came too late.
“Biden made the mistake of putting Cuba in the back seat and failing to overturn the disastrous policies of the Trump administration,” Mr. Pappier said.
He said that Mr. Biden delayed his decision for fear of alienating voters in Florida ahead of the US presidential election.
Migdalia Gutiérrez’s son, Brusnelvis Cabrera Gutiérrez, was sentenced to 10 years for sedition at the age of 20 for throwing stones, a charge he denies.
“It’s the best thing that could have happened. That’s brilliant!” she said about the expected release of the prisoners. “I want him to be released. I have hope. How can I not hope?”
Ed Augustine contributed reporting from Havana.
