Cuban President Slams US Plan to Place Island on Terrorism List

Only three weeks left before Trump leaves office, his state department prepared a controversial proposal to designate Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo must decide whether to sign off on the plan, the New York Times reported, citing two US officials.

It is unclear whether Pompeo has decided to move ahead with the designation, the Times wrote.

The State Department notified Congress in May that Cuba was among five countries it said were “not cooperating fully” with US so-called counter-terrorism efforts.

If approved, the move will automatically trigger US sanctions against Havana.

In response to the move, President Díaz-Canel said in a tweet on Thursday that Havana condemns “a unilateral, absurd, hypocritical and unjust maneuver of the US administration to include Cuba in their list of state sponsors of terrorism.”

“This administration protects terrorist groups acting against #Cuba,” he said.

Díaz-Canel also wrote that Havana “will constantly and rightfully denounce every mercenary and imperialist action against #Cuba.”

We condemn a unilateral, absurd, hypocritical and unjust maneuver of the US administration to include Cuba in their list of state sponsors of terrorism. This administration protects terrorist groups acting against #Cuba. #LivingCuba https://t.co/pAqKbP6lez
— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) December 31, 2020

Things will no longer be easy for them. We will constantly and rightfully denounce every mercenary and imperialist action against #Cuba. #LivingCuba https://t.co/tvV1RUK7Ez
— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) December 31, 2020

Democrats denounced the Cuba proposal on Tuesday, describing it as an attempt to unfairly limit the incoming administration of president-elect Joe Biden.

“It’s another stunt by this president with less than 23 days to go,” said Democrat Representative Gregory Meeks.

He said that Trump is “trying to put handcuffs on the incoming administration.”

Biden’s incoming administration could take Cuba back off the list, but the process might take several months.

Washington removed Cuba from its list of terrorism sponsors in 2015, after former president Barack Obama announced the normalization of relations with Havana for the first time in almost six decades.

Obama had dropped economic sanctions, relaxed restrictions on travel and trade, and reopened an embassy in the Cuban capital.

He also became the first US president to visit the island in more than eight decade.

Cuba was first added to the terrorism list by the Reagan administration in 1982.