Q24N (AFP) Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden has decided to “remove Cuba” from the list of countries that are “state sponsors of terrorism” a week before Donald Trump’s inauguration.
“An assessment has been completed, and we have no information to support the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism,” said a senior US official, who requested anonymity.
It is “a gesture of good will in order to facilitate the release of the unjustly detained,” he added.
– Advertisement –
Washington claims to have coordinated “with a number of actors, including the Catholic Church.”
“We believe that the number of people who will be released will be significant,” he said.
The senior official did not want to go into details, but said that the release “would take place in a relatively short period of time.” Some prisoners will be released “before the Biden administration ends on January 20,” he said.
The decision taken by the U.S. president, with less than a week left in office, can be reversed by Trump.
Asked whether the Biden administration has coordinated with the incoming administration, the senior official said they have been “in regular communication on a variety of issues, and this is one of the issues” discussed.
For more than 6 decades, the United States has imposed a trade embargo on Cuba that Trump tightened during his first term (2017-2021) by re-including the island on its blacklist of sponsors of terrorism, a measure that hinders transactions and investments because companies are exposed to US sanctions.
– Advertisement –
Upon his arrival at the White House, Biden promised to review the policy towards Cuba, but changed his mind after the anti-government demonstrations in July of that same year on the island, which left one dead and dozens injured, and after which hundreds of protesters remain imprisoned.
According to the senior US official, Biden decided to eliminate a list of Cuban entities that are prohibited from certain financial transactions.
To do so, he will rescind a memorandum promulgated in June 2017, when Donald Trump was in power, who will return to the White House next week, the official added.
He will also suspend the ability of Americans “to file claims in the courts of their country with respect to potentially expropriated Cuban properties.”
– Advertisement –
During his first term, President-elect Donald Trump, who will be sworn into office next Monday, activated Title 3 of the Helms-Burton Act, which allows Americans to file lawsuits in court over properties expropriated by the Cuban government after January 1, 1959.
– Advertisement –
Source link
Q24N
