World #1 – U.S. Puts Cuba Back On List Of State Sponsors of Terrorism

(by Bill Chappell, NPR) — The Trump administration is designating Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism in a move that will return the island nation to the…list from which it was removed five years ago.

As he announced the designation Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Cuba “repeatedly provid[ed] support for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbor to terrorists.”

Pompeo also said the Trump administration is intent on “denying the Castro regime the resources it uses to oppress its people at home, and countering its malign interference in Venezuela and the rest of the Western Hemisphere.”

[“With this action, we will once again hold Cuba’s government accountable and send a clear message: the Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and subversion of US justice,” Pompeo said in a statement.

“The United States will continue to support the Cuban people in their desire for a democratic government and respect for human rights, including freedom of religion, expression and association,” Pompeo also said].

…The U.S. removed Cuba from its state sponsors of terrorism list in May 2015 after President Barack Obama’s administration had reached an agreement [secretly] to restore relations with Cuba months earlier, including a plan to boost travel and trade between the two countries. [Only Congress can end the five-decade embargo. But President Obama was able to implement policies to weaken it]. …

Being put on the U.S. terror list [enables the U.S. to impose] sanctions, including “restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance; a ban on defense exports and sales; certain controls over exports of dual use items; and miscellaneous financial and other restrictions,” the U.S. State Department says.

The State Department currently lists three [other] countries as state sponsors of terrorism: Syria, Iran and North Korea.

In a much-anticipated move, [after its democratic transition], the U.S. formally took Sudan off the list last month as part of a deal in which the country agreed to normalize relations and open economic ties with Israel.

The Trump administration has steadily reversed many of the steps Obama took to end [the decades-long Cuban embargo, implemented by Democratic President John F. Kennedy in 1962 by executive order following Castro’s communist overthrow of the government, replacing one dictator for another]. In the spring of 2019, the Trump administration placed new sanctions and penalties on Cuba, hoping to undermine the communist regime and help the Cuban people regain a democratic government. It also killed a deal that would have made it easier for Cuban baseball players to join professional teams in the U.S. and Canada.

Two months later, the United States imposed new travel restrictions to stop U.S. citizens from visiting the island on cruise ships and other travel.

And in May it returned Cuba to a list of countries that [are] “not cooperating fully” with its counterterrorism efforts. It cited the country’s refusal of a request from Colombia to extradite leaders of the communist National Liberation Army, (a terrorist group) and said Cuba has harbored “several U.S. fugitives from justice.”

After being pulled over for a routine traffic stop, Chesimard and fellow members of the radical Black Liberation Army opened fire on Foerster and another State Trooper.  According to reports, Chesimard killed Foerster “execution style,” shooting him in the head as he lay wounded by gunfire.

For her role in this heinous crime, Chesimard was sentenced to life in prison. However, after her conviction, Chesimard escaped from prison and fled to Cuba where she was granted political asylum by the Communist dictator Castro and has lived ever since].

Published at NPR on Jan. 11. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.