The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it’s removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism as part of a deal to free “many dozens” of political prisoners.
Senior administration officials told reporters that the Catholic Church has also played a role in the deal “to create an improved environment in Cuba.”
“It is our understanding that the Catholic Church is significantly advancing an agreement with Cuba to undertake a set of actions that will allow for the humanitarian release of a significant number of political prisoners in Cuba and those who have been detained unjustly,” an administration official said.
The administration by law notified Congress of the decision.
Officials said President Biden also will issue a waiver for Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which allowed Cubans living in the U.S. to file claims in U.S. courts against Cuba over property that was expropriated by the Cuban government since the Cuban revolution.
The president also will be ending the “National Security Presidential Memorandum 5,” which put restrictions on financial transactions with certain Cuban entities.
The SST designation was reimposed on Cuba in the last week of President-elect Donald Trump’s first term after it was reversed during former President Obama’s second term. The Trump administration cited Cuba’s support for Nicholas Maduro, leader of Venezuela, along with continuing to hold on to American fugitives, among other reasons for placing the designation on the island nation.
A Biden administration official said that after an assessment, there has been no information that supported the idea that Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism, and the Biden administration has been in contact with the incoming Trump administration on the changes.
Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, bashed the Biden administration’s decision Tuesday, calling it “unacceptable on its merits.”
“The terrorism advanced by the Cuban regime has not ceased. I will work with President Trump and my colleagues to immediately reverse and limit the damage from the decision,” Mr. Cruz, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.
The administration officials said they believe the actions “will be broadly well received in the region and beyond,” and said many U.S. allies have supported Cuba’s removal from the list, including Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Canada, Chile and the European Union.
They said they expect the releases of the political prisoners “will happen very soon.”
“We do anticipate that there will be people who are released from detention in Cuba before the end of the Biden administration on January 20,” an official said.
Congress and Mr. Trump could potentially reverse the action. Sen. Marco Rubio, Mr. Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, has previously introduced legislation that would prohibit Cuba’s removal from the SST list “until the president determines that a transition government in Cuba is in power.”
Mr. Rubio, Florida Republican, is Cuban American, and his parents immigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s.