Trump restores sanctions before Biden takes office
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday redesignated Cuba as a “state sponsor of terrorism,” in a move that hits the country with new sanctions shortly before Presidentelect Joe Biden takes office.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the step, citing in particular Cuba’s continued harboring of U. S. fugitives as well as its support for Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
The designation is one of the latest in a series of lastminute moves that the Trump administration is making before Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
Removing Cuba from the blacklist had been one of former President Barack Obama’s main foreign policy achievements as he sought better relations with the communist island, an effort endorsed by Biden as his vice president. Ties had been essentially frozen after Fidel Castro took power in 1959.
As he has with Iran, Trump has sought to reverse many of Obama’s decisions involving Cuba. He has taken a tough line on Havana and restored many of the sanctions the Obama administration had eased or lifted after the restoration of diplomatic relations in 2015.
In addition to attacking Cuba for its support of Maduro, the Trump administration has also suggested that Cuba may have been behind or allowed alleged attacks that left dozens of U. S. diplomats in Havana with brain injuries starting in late
2016.
However, few U. S, allies believe Cuba remains a sponsor of international terrorism, quibbling with either the definition based on the support for Maduro or outright rejecting American claims that Cuban authorities are bankrolling or masterminding international terrorist attacks.
Nonetheless, the Trump administration has pursued an antagonistic policy toward Cuba, steadily increasing restrictions on flights, trade and financial transactions between the U. S. and the island.
The latest sanctions reinstated by the Trump administration include major restrictions that will bar most travel from the U. S. to Cuba and the transfer of money between the two countries, a significant source of income for Cubans who have relatives in the United States.
Obama’s removal of Cuba from the “state sponsors of terrorism” list had been a major target of Trump, Pompeo and
other Cuba hawks in the current administration. Former national security adviser John Bolton had also been a main advocate of restoring the sanctions.
Cuba has repeatedly refused to turn over U. S. fugitives who have been granted asylum, including a black militant convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper in the 1970s. In addition to political refugee status, U. S. fugitives have received free housing, health care and other benefits thanks to Cuba’s government, which insists the U. S. has no “legal or moral basis” to demand their return.
Cuba has had a longstanding alliance with Maduro, although it has denied having 20,000 troops and intelligence agents in Venezuela and says it has not carried out any security operations. Cuban officials, however, have said they have the right to carry out broad military and intelligence cooperation that they deem as legitimate.