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Shortly before the end of President Donald Trump’s term, his administration placed Cuba back on the list of US terrorists. This was announced by the United States Department of State in Washington. “With this measure we will once again hold the Cuban government accountable and send a clear message: the Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and infiltration of the US justice system,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. The move is likely to complicate efforts by the future Joe Biden administration to resume the rapprochement between neighboring states initiated by Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.
The Obama administration removed the socialist country from the US list of supporters of terrorism in 2015 and visited Havana in March 2016. Washington had thus removed a major obstacle in the diplomatic rapprochement of neighboring states after decades of ice age.
Under Trump, relations between the United States and Cuba had suddenly deteriorated again. After alleged sound wave attacks, Washington withdrew most of its diplomatic staff from the Havana embassy. In addition, the United States government withdrew most of the easing of the economic embargo. The Trump administration accuses the Cuban government of repressing its own people and supporting the authoritarian president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.
Pompeo Raises Serious Accusations Against Cuban Leadership
The Foreign Ministry cited the reason for the classification according to which the Cuban leadership was displaying “a series of malicious behaviors in the region,” particularly with regard to Venezuela. The government supported Maduro to maintain his “absolute dominance” over his people and created a “permissive” environment for international terrorists.
In general, Pompeo raised serious accusations against the Cuban leadership. For decades, the Cuban government has been feeding and protecting murderers, bomb makers and kidnappers and providing them with medical care, while many Cubans are starving, homeless and without essentials, he complained.
The US State Department move is widely seen as a political maneuver prior to the change of power in Washington. Iran, Syria and North Korea are currently on the list. The list means that US development aid, arms exports, and certain financial transactions are restricted for the respective countries. Sudan was recently removed from the list.
Cuba entered the index in 1982, among other things because it had given shelter to members of the underground Basque organization Eta and the Colombian guerrilla Farc.
In the final stages of Trump’s term, his administration has already made several important foreign policy decisions that put future President Biden before a fait accompli. The US government has just targeted an ally of Iran in the civil war country of Yemen: Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo announced Sunday night in Washington that he wanted to classify the Yemeni Houthi rebels as a terrorist organization. Aid organizations warned that the move would have far-reaching effects on the already dire humanitarian need in Yemen.
Washington had previously recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, surprisingly. A senior American diplomat visited the disputed area under international law last weekend.
