The government of Donald Trump declared Cuba a country that sponsors terrorism on Monday, as confirmed by two congressional advisers to our sister network NBC News.
This is the latest in a series of actions by the Trump Administration, days before leaving,
to undo the legacy of former President Barack Obama
in opening up relations between the United States and the Caribbean island.
The State Department informed Congress about the
imminent
measure on Monday morning
, according to the two legislative aides who spoke on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to release information to the media.
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Cuba was first included on the list in 1982 under President Ronald Reagan, but was removed in 2015 by Obama.
Iran, North Korea and Syria
are the only states currently designated as state sponsors of terrorism, requiring the State Department to certify that a country "has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism."
Sudan was removed from the list earlier this year, shortly after it agreed to formally recognize Israel.
How it impacts in Cuba
Replacing Cuba on the list before Trump leaves office represents
a major obstacle
to the ability of incoming officials to President-elect Joe Biden to reapply Obama-era policies to the relationship between the United States and the United States. island.
The Donald Trump Administration has launched a series of measures to end the policy of opening up to the island of Barack Obama.
AP
To reverse the action, which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to carry out, the Biden Administration should certify to Congress that there has been a fundamental change of leadership in Cuba, that the Island Government is not supporting acts of terrorism at the international level. and that it has not done so in the past six months and will not do so in the future.
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The designation will also result in restrictions on US foreign aid, a ban on US arms exports and sales as controls on items that could be used for military and civilian purposes.
In addition, Cuba loses possible support from the US Government to receive loans from global financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank.
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Still, the decision may be largely only symbolic.
Given the series of sanctions and restrictions already in place under the Trump Administration, it is unclear to what extent the designation would actually bring more financial difficulties than the Cuban government already has.
The reasons behind the designation
Among the reasons believed to be behind the designation would be the refusal to extradite Joanne Chesimard, an American who fled to Cuba after being convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1973.
Cuba's refusal to a Colombian request to extradite ten leaders of the National Liberation Army (ELN) who lived in Havana was also taken into account, NBC News indicated.
The extradition was requested after the guerrillas claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a Bogotá police academy, which killed 22 people and injured 60 others.
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The Trump Administration has also criticized the Cuban government for backing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Although there have also been complaints of alleged political and electoral motivations.
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In December, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez denounced Pompeo's possible "maneuvers" as an attempt to "please the anti-Cuban minority in Florida."
With information from NBC News and Bloomberg.