In one of the final acts of his presidency in January 2021, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that again placed Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list without any justification. President Barak Obama removed the Caribbean island from the list in 2015 following a thorough review by the Departments of State and Defense. Presence on the list makes it very difficult for Cuba to purchase needed supplies as it seeks to recover its economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic causing undue hardships to the Cuban people. Cuba’s removal from the list in 2015 did not end the 60-year U.S. blockade of the island, though it made it easier for it to participate in the global capitalist marketplace with some positive economic results.
The State Sponsors of Terrorism list has always been a hypocritical instrument of U.S. foreign policy used to punish those who U.S. rulers regard as adversaries while overlooking its own misdeeds and those of its allies. Actions of U.S. intelligence agencies like the torture of prisoners following the events of 9/11 continue to be overlooked as well as the genocidal actions of U.S. ally Saudi Arabia in Yemen.
The presence of Cuba on the list is particularly outrageous because it has been a victim of terrorist acts over the past 60 years, not a perpetrator of them. It is well documented that in the 1960s following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the U.S. government carried out many acts of sabotage in Cuba, including the 1961 invasion at the Bay of Pigs and numerous failed assassination attempts on the life of Fidel Castro. Later, in 1976 a Cuban commercial airliner was bombed in Barbados and the perpetrators eventually found exile in the United States. In 1994 when Cuba was reinserting itself into the world capitalist economy through tourism after the collapse of the U.S.S.R., hotel bombings were carried out in Havana by persons operating from the United States, and the U.S. government refused to cooperate in efforts to bring them to justice. Beyond being a victim of terrorism, Cuba has gone out of its way to speak out against terrorism and expressed solidarity with the people of the United States following the events of 9/11. During the Obama administration the Cuban and U.S. governments began joint law enforcement operations, including in the field of anti-terrorism. The Trump administration unilaterally ended that cooperation, but Cuba has remained committed to the cooperation if the U.S. side is willing.
[image_caption]Gary Prevost[/image_caption]
Dr. Gary Prevost is a professor emeritus of Political Science and Latin American Studies at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University, a member of the Minnesota Cuba Committee and co-author of “Cuba-U.S. Relations- A Critical History.”
Well Gary we agree, I suspect the real reason Cuba is on the list is because Florida doesn’t want any competition for those winter vacationers. Talk about left over bad feeling from the cold war, the Castro’s are all long gone. There is no rational reason, so therefor the anti-Cuban crazies got to make a bunch of stuff up!
Dr. Prevost makes a great deal of sense in advocating the removal of Cuba from the list of “State Sponsors of Terrorism”. Its presence there is a legacy of the highly discredited Trump administration, who reversed the wise decision of former President Obama to remove it.
President Biden’s hesitancy in this matter is a great disappointment. He has shown commendable wisdom in a number of foreign policy matters, notably support for Ukraine, but a lack of courage in following through on normalizing relations with Cuba. He needs to do so right away.
I am way more interested in removing China from “favored nation status” officially. The past 20 years of favored nation status allowed China to steal intellectual property by the billions. China was aided by DC career swampers, both sides of the isle made millions while China made billions.I don’t care about Cuba at all. Thanks to communism, Cuba is a third world country with minimum value to add to USA. Pre Castro Cuba is long gone!!
Cuba is 90 miles away and still is a big deal to the U S. It was a big deal in 1960 and it is today if the USA is serious about improving international relations.
Foreign relations are not always transactional. Cuba is significant because it is 90 miles from the US and refugees from Cuba continue to come into this country.
Whether you care personally about Cuba is not especially high on the list of reasons to be concerned.
All you need to know about Cuba is that in 2021, 21,821 people (that we know of) risked their lives in rickety boats to escape communism. (worldData.info)
What would improved relations with the US do to that total?
They must be doing something right: 1.6 Million from the rest of Central America…
I went to Cuba with a church group in November 2011. I went to China in the summer of 1990 with seven colleagues from Oregon’s Linfield College.
I could go on at length about both trips, both of which were full of pleasant and unpleasant surprises and took us off the typical tourist path. I was able to speak basic conversational Mandarin, thanks to my graduate school curriculum, and basic Spanish, so I did talk to people without an interpreter present.
I’m convinced that the U.S. treatment of Cuba is a matter of hurt pride rather than any genuine concern for human rights. Even the most bitter emigres don’t accuse the Cuban government of massacring entire villages, as the government of El Salvador did in the 1980s, and yet it was “our ally against Communism.” I can just imagine what goes on int eh minds of the Cuba hawks: “How DARE this little island country just 90 miles from Key West keep defying us for 64 years? We’ll show them who’s boss!”