Cuba Solidarity Campaign condemns the continued false designation of Cuba as a ‘State Sponsor of Terrorism'.
Campaign News | Thursday, 2 March 2023
On February 27, the US State Department released its Country Report on Terrorism 2021 which, with Cuba’s continued inclusion as a so-called ‘state sponsor of terrorism’, served as further evidence that President Joe Biden is determined to continue more than 60 years of economic war against Cuba.
The report states that “Cuba had repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism since its State Sponsor of Terrorism designation had been rescinded in 2015.” The justification for the designation relates to Cuba’s role in the Colombian peace process; however the nation’s President, Gustavo Petro, called on the US to remove Cuba from the list in a meeting with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in October 2022. In a more recent interview, Colombia’s Vice-President Francia Marquez, a former human rights activist and her nation’s first Afro-Colombian Vice-President, expanded on the vital role Cuba had played in advancing peace in Colombia:
“Cuba has played a transcendental role in the path to peace that we have initiated in our country. Cuba has been there for us, and it has paid a price for that, because [the US] has placed it on their list of the countries who sponsor terrorism. I think that it’s impossible to call a country that sponsors peace, “terrorist.” Without doubt, Cuba’s effort to build peace in Colombia is something that Colombians will always have to be thankful for.”
During his presidential campaign, Biden said he would reverse Trump’s harsher sanctions and revert to the Obama administration’s policies of normalisation. He has so far failed to deliver. The designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism exacerbates the devastating impact of the blockade, making it even harder for Cuba to make international transactions, access credit on the international market and purchase essential items such as food and medicines. It also acts to deter people from visiting Cuba, as it threatens their eligibility for the U.S. visa waiver program.
“The continued US unilateral designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism only serves to justify and extend the illegal and debilitating US blockade of Cuba”, said Cuba Solidarity Campaign Director Rob Miller. “It’s shameful that Cuba, which has played such a significant role in bringing peace to one of the region’s most troubled countries, and itself has been the victim of a number of acts of terrorism, should be placed on such a list.”
