(credit: leahy.senate.gov)  U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-V) is among  several lawmakers demanding Secretary of State Michael Pompeo answer on the out-going Trump administration’s designating Cuba a sponsor of terrorism on Monday.  

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Democrat Senators are demanding answers from the U.S. State Department about Monday’s “11-th hour”  move to designate Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism. 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.  Amid talk of Trump’s intention regarding Cuba,  U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Tina Smith (D-MN) sent a letter on Friday to Secretary of State Pompeo expressing concern over reports that the Trump Administration’s would designate Havana as a state sponsor of terrorism without formal consultation and review by Congress.   The Senators also asked the State Department to commit to conducting a formal review before designating any nation a state sponsor of terrorism or removing any such designation.  In the letter,  the  Senators  said they are writing to “express our deep concerns”  regarding reports that the  Trump  Administration is considering designating Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism absent a formal review and consultation with Congress.

“In the final days of the Administration, efforts to politicize important decisions concerning our national security are unacceptable and threaten to damage future diplomatic efforts toward Cuba and set a harmful precedent for future designations,”

-the U.S. Senators said in the letter.

“After the United States resumed diplomatic relations with Cuba in 2015, Cuban entrepreneurs flourished thanks to the influx of American visitors, and access to mobile phones and the Internet increased dramatically, providing Cubans with information from outside the island never experienced since the 1959 Revolution.  The Trump Administration has taken numerous steps to reverse that progress, and in so doing has deprived Americans of their right to travel freely, caused great harm to Cuban small businesses and American exporters, and denied Cuban-Americans the ability to provide financial support to their relatives in Cuba.  Since 2017, when the Administration resumed sanctions against Cuba, United States-Cuban cooperation on issues of mutual interest – from public health to maritime security – has ceased, the human rights situation in Cuba has gotten worse, and the Russian and Chinese presence in Cuba has increased.  By any objective standard, the Trump Administration’s policy has failed to achieve its objectives.”

-U.S. Senators letter to Secretary of State Pompeo

The U.S. Senators presented to Pompeo in the letter,  “In light of the importance of this issue, we ask that you answer the following questions: 

1. Is the Department considering designating Cube a a state sponsor of terrorism?

2. If so, is the State Department’s counterterrorism bureau – which ordinarily plays a central role in designating a nation as a state sponsor of terrorism – actively involved in the designation process? If not, why not?

3. Why is the Administration considering this action now?  Are there changed circumstances that make it necessary and appropriate to consider this designation now that were not present in the past four years?

4. In order to protect the integrity of the state sponsor of terrorism designation, will you commit to conducting a formal review before designating any nation a state sponsor of terrorism or removing any such designation?

“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

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.”