A total of 46 United States congresspeople urged President Joe Biden to reverse the designation that weighs on Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism and recognized its participation in the peace process and agreement in Colombia.
Dated July 31 and with a copy to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the letter expressed the concern of these members of the legislative body about the arbitrary measure against the Caribbean nation, which fulfilled its commitments as a guarantor of the peace talks in the South American country, according to a dispatch from Prensa Latina news agency.
According to them, this peace process also depends on other countries being willing to serve as guarantors of the talks.
In January 2021, just days before the end of his term, Donald Trump re-included Cuba on the SSOT (State Sponsor of Terrorism) list as part of the maximum pressure policy that characterized his stance.
The then president used as a pretext Cuba’s refusal to extradite 10 members of the ELN (National Liberation Army) who had participated in peace negotiations with the Colombian government in Havana.
As guarantor of the talks, Cuba was fulfilling its commitments under international protocols, a position fully supported by another guarantor country, Norway, the congresspeople stressed.
For its part, the current Colombian government has repeatedly requested the removal of Cuba from the SSOT list, in recognition of its “essential role as host and guarantor of the peace talks.”
The permanence of the index decreed by the Republican administration in 2021 meant a de facto reinforcement of the economic, commercial and financial blockade that Washington maintains even though since 1992 the international community has consecutively requested its lifting at the United Nations.
Cuba was included for the first time on the list in 1982, during the administration of Ronald Reagan (1981-1989), but President Barack Obama (2009-2017), in his thawing policy, reversed the measure in 2015 after admitting that it was baseless, Prensa Latina reported.
Last January, the representative for the state of Tennessee, Democrat Steve Cohen, sent a letter to President Biden asking him to “begin the process of reviewing and reversing the inclusion of Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list.”
In his letter, the congressman believed that “the tightening of sanctions under President Trump, including those triggered by the SSOT designation, is now one of the key factors driving Cuba’s deepening humanitarian crisis.”
“Restrictions on foreign assistance and finance, as well as severed ties from businesses and financial institutions that do not want to risk being associated with ‘a sponsor of terror,’ have helped to cripple the Cuban economy and cut off the Cuban people from the global financial system,” he said.
Last December, several Democratic legislators also signed a letter asking the White House to remove Cuba from that blacklist.
Lawmakers James McGovern and Ayanna Pressley, signatories of the text, declared that the inclusion of Cuba on the list was “a vengeful action” by the Trump administration and that the measure should have “been changed long ago.”
The letter was also signed by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and Representatives Seth Moulton, Lori Trahan and Stephen Lynch.
Castro is gone, they are 90 miles away. We need to soften our stance and see if they move closer. We have a lot of connections with them. Extend an olive branch.