Credit:  Gary Raynaldo /  US Department of State building – Washington, DC  USA

By Gary Raynaldo          DIPLOMATIC TIMES

The  Trump administration’s  State Department notified the U.S. Congress this  week that Cuba has now been reinstated on the infamous list of countries that do not cooperate in fighting terrorism. This is the first year since 2015 that Cuba has been reinstated  following the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two nations under the leadership of Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro. Cuba joins the list of other  nations , North Korea, Syria, and Venezuela,  that  were certified under Section 40A(a) of the Arms Export Control Act as “not cooperating fully” with U.S. counterterrorism efforts in 2019.  This certification prohibits the sale or license for export of defense articles and services and notifies the U.S. public and international community that these countries are not fully cooperating with U.S. counterterrorism efforts, according to the  U.S. State Department.  In explaining its reason for adding Cuba to the  list, the  State Department cited “the Cuban government’s refusal to extradite members of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, to Colombia.”  The ELN claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack on a police academy in Bogotá in 2019, in which 22 people died.

“As the United States maintains an enduring security partnership with Colombia and shares with Colombia the important counterterrorism objective of combating organizations like the ELN, Cuba’s refusal to productively engage with the Colombian government demonstrates that it is not cooperating with U.S. work to support Colombia’s efforts to secure a just and lasting peace, security, and opportunity for its people.”

-U.S. State Department 

U.S. Cited The Case of Joanne Chesimard  As  Fugitives From American Justice Given Refuge In Cuba 

Source: facebookhandsoffassata/    Joanne Chesimard , now known as Assata Shakur, was convicted of murdering a New Jersey State Police officer in 1973. While serving a life sentence for murder, she escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in 1979. She surfaced in Cuba in 1984, where she was granted political asylum. Shakur has lived in Cuba since, despite US government efforts to have her returned. She is on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list  with a $2 million bounty on the now 71-year-old.    Supporters of Shakur maintain she was wrongfully convicted of murder. 

The State Department said that the Cuban government gives refuge to people who have escaped from U.S. justice. The agency cited the case of Joanne Chesimard, who was found guilty of murdering a New Jersey police officer in 1973. In 1979 — two years into her life sentence — she was broken free from prison with the help of other members of Black Liberation Army (BLA)  and fled to Cuba, where Fidel Castro granted her asylum. The U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Cuba.

“Cuba harbors several U.S. fugitives from justice wanted on charges of political violence, many of whom have resided in Cuba for decades.  For example, the Cuban regime has refused to return Joanne Chesimard, who was convicted of executing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973.  The Cuban Government provides housing, food ration books, and medical care for  these individuals,” the State Department said.

Gunman With Assault Rifle Opens Fire On CUBA Embassy in Washington D.C.

Credit: Wikipedia Commons /  Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Washington, D.C.

Supporters of Cuba note that  the U.S.  change occurred – coincidentally – on the same day that Cuba’s Foreign Minister denounced the U.S. government for its “complicit silence in the face of the terrorist attack”  on the socialist island’s  American embassy in Washington D.C.  on April 30.  A man who popped off nearly three dozen rounds from an AK-47 rifle at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C.  claimed he heard “voices in his head.” Alexander Alazo, 42, of Aubrey, Texas, was arrested  opening fire at about 2 a.m. outside the embassy located in the 2600 block of 16th Street in Northwest D.C., near the Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights areas.  No embassy personnel were hurt but that the gunfire damaged the building.    Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said in a statement published online that the attack, which he labeled a “terrorist act,” has been “encouraged” by the “growing hostile rhetoric” of the Trump administration against the island.

#US State Dept included #Cuba in spurious list of countries that fail to cooperate in struggle vs terrorism, but it didn't prevent or condemn the terrorist attack vs @EmbaCubaUS on April 30
It conceals it's own history of state terrorism vs Cuba & impunity of violent groups in US pic.twitter.com/ZjguoQvcSg

— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) May 13, 2020

“Inaccurate Trump Administration Charges Against Cuba Damage Prospects for Peace Talks in Colombia and Elsewhere”:    WOLA 

“These politically motivated charges, aimed at pleasing U.S. political constituencies, undermine existing U.S.-Cuba security cooperation as well as the possibility of peace negotiations in Colombia and potentially elsewhere,” the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) said in a statement.

“The sanctions attached to the “non-cooperation” designation—a prohibition on the sale or export of defense equipment and services to the designated country—do not have practical consequences for Cuba, since U.S. embargo regulations already prohibit the sale of defense-related equipment and services.  However, this designation further poisons the diplomatic atmosphere between Cuba and the United States.”  – WOLA.