Biden administration taking Cuba off terrorism list in deal to free political prisoners

More than one million Cubans have left the island in the past three years.
More than one million Cubans have left the island in the past three years.

Summary

The action is part of a deal worked out with help from the Catholic Church to free political prisoners on the island.

The U.S. Embassy in Havana. Cuba, which is in the throes of an economic crisis, has been enduring blackouts and scarcity of food and medicine.

Days before President Biden's term ends, his administration said it would remove Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism as part of a deal worked out with help from the Catholic Church to free political prisoners on the island.

U.S. officials said the decision, which comes less than a week before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration for a second term, would lead to the release of ‘many dozens’ of Cuban political prisoners.

Cuba's Foreign Ministry said that it would free 553 prisoners. All of the prisoners have been incarcerated since protests shook the island in July 2021, said a person familiar with the matter, who added that the releases could begin as soon as Wednesday.

The move reverses a decision that Trump made to designate Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism in January 2021, shortly before the end of his first term. It isn't clear if he will restore the designation when he returns to the White House next week. Trump's transition team didn't respond to a request for comment.

It also comes on the eve of the confirmation hearing for Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), Trump's designee to lead the State Department. Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants and a longtime critic of the Cuban regime.

Cuba has been undergoing its worst economic crisis in decades. The island has been plagued by nationwide blackouts, and food and medicine continue to be scarce. More than one million Cubans have left the island in the past three years. Some 850,000 of them have settled in the U.S. since 2022, according to figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Banks almost universally shun Cuba because of the terrorism listing. The decision to take it off the list, if it stands, could be a first step in helping Havana obtain some financial relief.

Cuba's Foreign Ministry welcomed the decision, which it said ended a designation that had damaged the island's economy and hit the population hard. But it noted that many other sanctions imposed by the U.S. remain.

Biden officials described the action as a ‘gesture of goodwill’ after a U.S. review found ‘no credible evidence at this time of ongoing support by Cuba for international terrorism’. The incoming Trump administration "will have an opportunity to review this position as well", a senior administration official said.

The Biden administration and Cuba said the church had been involved in arranging the deal. Biden spoke with Pope Francis last week, according to a U.S. official who said the administration had “confidence in the strength of the dialogue that the Catholic Church has had with Cuba on these issues." Cuba said President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote to the pope about the release at the beginning of the year. The church didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move drew condemnation from Trump allies. Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called it ‘rank appeasement of the Cuban regime’ and vowed to work with the Trump administration to immediately ‘reverse and limit the damage from the decision.’

Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.) slammed the move as a ‘parting gift to dictators and terrorists around the world.’

The decision was also criticized by Florida Democrats. “We condemn in the strongest terms Cuba's removal from this list," Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said, calling on the Biden administration to ‘reverse course immediately.’

Pedro Freyre, a lawyer with the Miami office of Akerman LLP, and an expert on Cuba, said the move would draw mixed reviews from Cuban-Americans in South Florida, an important constituency for Trump.

“Some will say it's a blessing that prisoners are being released, while others will criticize the move for removing a designation that stigmatizes the Cuban government," he said.

Rubio, who will face questions from senators at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, introduced legislation in 2023 that would prevent Cuba from being removed from the state sponsors of terrorism list until it holds democratic elections and frees political prisoners.

The White House also said on Tuesday that it would relax other restrictions on Cuba, including rescinding a Trump-era national security memorandum that enables sanctions on certain Cuban entities. These are 65 to 80 hotels and other companies operated by Cuba's military, said a person familiar with the matter.

In recent years, the U.S. has been lobbied to lift the terrorism designation by human-rights groups and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as several countries in the region, including Brazil, Colombia and Chile.

“From a diplomatic perspective," another senior administration official said, “we believe these actions will put the United States on a solid footing with our allies who support Cuba's removal from the state-sponsored terrorism list."

Alexander Ward contributed to this article.

Write to Vera Bergengruen at vera.bergengruen@wsj.com and Jose de Cordoba at jose.decordoba@wsj.com

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