(photo credit: Gary Raynaldo  /  ©Diplomatic Times)  Vintage American cars in Havana,  Cuba 

By Gary  Raynaldo       DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

The outgoing Trump administration designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terror on Monday, effectively reversing an Obama-era action that removed  the Latin American country from the list.  Cuba was first placed on the list in 1982 under then-President Ronald Reagan but was removed in 2015 by Obama as part of a normalization of relations. U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo made the surprise announcement Monday afternoon after House Democrats set in motion a plan to vote Wednesday to impeach President Trump amid last week’s violent terror attack on the Capital by the president’s supporters. 

“The State Department has designated Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism for repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbor to terrorists.”

-U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo

(photo credit: Gary Raynaldo  /  ©Diplomatic Times)    Secretary of State Michael Pompeo at press conference at the U.S. Department of State in Washington. 

Pompeo said the with Monday’s action, “we will once again hold Cuba’s government accountable and send a clear message: the Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and subversion of U.S. justice.”  Pompeo accused the Cuban government of feeding, housing and providing medical care for decades “for murderers, bombmakers, and hijackers.”

“Cuba also harbors several U.S. fugitives from justice wanted on or convicted of charges of political violence, many of whom have resided in Cuba for decades.  For example, the Cuban regime has refused to return Joanne Chesimard, on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List for executing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973; Ishmael LaBeet, convicted of killing eight people in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1972; Charles Lee Hill, charged with killing New Mexico state policeman Robert Rosenbloom in 1971; and others.”

-Secretary of State Pompeo 

Pompeo Accuses Cuban Intelligence of Infiltrating Venezuela’s Security and Military Forces to Help Nicholas Maduro

The U.S. Secretary of  State also claimed the Cuban intelligence and security apparatus has infiltrated Venezuela’s security and military forces, assisting Nicholas Maduro “to maintain his stranglehold over his people while allowing terrorist organizations to operate.  The Cuban government’s support for FARC dissidents and the ELN continues beyond Cuba’s borders as well, and the regime’s support of Maduro has created a permissive environment for international terrorists to live and thrive within Venezuela.”

Today’s designation subjects Cuba to sanctions that penalize persons and countries engaging in certain trade with Cuba, restricts U.S. foreign assistance, bans defense exports and sales, and imposes certain controls on exports of dual use items.   Iran, North Korea and Syria are the only nations currently designated as state sponsors of terrorism, which requires the State Department to certify a country “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.”

U.S.  Removes SUDAN from List of State Sponsors of Terrorism after Nearly 30 Years

Last month, the U.S. removed Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism after 27 long years. The U.S. Trump administration dropped Sudan from a terrorism blacklist after the country agreed to pay $335 million in compensation for its alleged role in the bombing of two US embassies in east Africa by al-Qaida in 1998.  Sudan had remained  on the Terror List  despite the recent overthrow of long-time authoritarian President al-Bashir.   

The outgoing administration of President Trump continues to show no mercy against Cuba in its economic war on Havana.  Last month,  Trump added three Cuban military-owned companies to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List including Grupo de Administración Empresarial SA (GAESA), FINCIMEX, and Kave Coffee S.A.    Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla   denounced the addition of the Cuban entities in list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). 

“I reject new blockade measures announced by Pompeo. Cuba will move forward no matter how many entities they might include in their spurious lists”

-Cuba Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez