President Obama Wants Cuba Removed From US Terrorist List

WASHINGTON, DC CMC – United States President Barack Obama, on Tuesday, decided to lift the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

In a message to Congress, the White House said, that the long-awaited decision effectively removes the principal impediment to establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, as pledged by Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro, last December.

Congress has 45 days to consider Cuba’s removal from the list before it becomes effective, but cannot interfere with Obama’s decision without voting separate legislation, a measure that the White House has deemed unlikely.

At a news conference in Panama last Saturday, Obama said, the majority of the American people, as well as a majority of Congress, approve of his opening up to Cuba.

Cuba was first designated a state sponsor of terrorism in 1982, at the height of the Cold War. Cuba’s removal would leave only three countries on the list: Iran, Sudan and Syria.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries had been urging Washington to ease trade and other embargoes against Havana and they renewed their position during talks, last week Thursday, with President Obama in Jamaica during his meeting with regional leaders.