Cuba Named a State Sponsor of Terrorism by Trump Administration

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the redesignation was warranted because Cuba has harbored several American fugitives, including a woman accused of killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1973. He also said that Cuba has rebuffed Colombia’s extradition request for 10 members of the National Liberation Army, which is tied to a 2019 bombing in Bogota that killed 22 people.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who played an important role in improving relations with Cuba during the Obama administration, denounced Mr. Pompeo’s move as a “blatantly politicized designation” that was intended to complicate the incoming Biden administration’s diplomacy.

“Of course we have differences with the Cubans over fugitives from justice, as we do with many governments,” Mr. Leahy said in a statement. “But the secretary of state has done nothing constructive to address that problem for four years, and this will only make it harder to solve.”

The State Department list to which Cuba is being added includes Syria, Iran and North Korea. Cuba was removed from that list in 2015 as   the Obama administration sought to build ties   with the country, part of a campaign that included boosting commercial air travel, the reopening of embassies and a visit by President Obama to Cuba.

Mr. Pompeo’s Cuba announcement follows on the decision   to designate the Houthis in Yemen as a foreign terrorist group , a move that formally will take effect on Jan. 19. The administration has also   eased restrictions on meetings between U.S. and Taiwanese officials   and   recognized Morocco’s claims   to the Western Sahara, among other steps.

A Biden transition official declined to comment on the Cuba decision but noted that Mr. Biden and his team will review these last-minute moves and “will render a verdict based exclusively on one criterion: the national interest.”

Cuba has long been a contentious political issue in American politics, and President Trump’s tough rhetoric against Cuba has been supported by many Cuban-American voters and other Hispanics who are sharply critical of that country and its regional ally Venezuela. Mr. Trump won the battleground state of Florida in November, in large part on   his performance among Cuban-American voters   in the Miami area.

Mr. Trump has already taken a number of steps against Cuba, including prohibiting individual travel for educational and cultural exchanges, and imposing economic sanctions. In 2018, then-national security adviser John Bolton described Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua as the “troika of tyranny.”

In putting Cuba back on the terrorism list, the administration didn’t assert that the Cuban government had repeatedly provided support for international terrorist acts, which the State Department has long said is a criteria for inclusion on the list.

Mr. Pompeo said that Cuba merited inclusion because it has provided “safe harbor to terrorists.” He also noted that   Cuba has sent personnel to support Venezuela President   Nicolas Maduro’s intelligence service and guard force, which Mr. Pompeo said had created “a permissive environment” for terrorists to live in the country.

The designation penalizes people and countries engaging in certain trade with Cuba, restricts U.S. foreign assistance, bans defense exports and sales, and imposes certain controls on exports, Mr. Pompeo said.

“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 U.S. justice,” Mr. Pompeo said in a statement.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, the New York Democrat who serves as the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that Mr. Pompeo had stretched the rules by including Cuba.

“It is essential that the State Sponsor of Terrorism list be used judiciously to maintain its seriousness and integrity, and that a country is never added to the list unless it meets the legal standard,” Mr. Meeks said. “I urge President-elect Biden to add the reversal of today’s foreign-policy failure to his long ‘to do’ list when he takes office.”

The designation has been under discussion within the Trump administration for months and was hinted at in May when the State Department cited Cuba as a nation that doesn’t cooperate with U.S. counterterrorism programs.

Cuba officials have defended their decision not to extradite the National Liberation Army officials, saying that would violate the protocols established for diplomatic talks.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said the designation was “hypocritical and cynical.” He wrote on Twitter, “The U.S. political opportunism is recognized by those who are honestly concerned about the scourge of terrorism and its victims.”