Feds Keep Cuba On List Of Countries Which Support Terrorism
HAVANA (CBSMiami/AP) – So what does Cuba have in common with Syria and the Sudan? They're all on the State Department's list state sponsors of terrorism and feds have no intention of taking them off.
State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Washington "has no current plans to remove Cuba" from the list, which is included in the department's annual report on terrorism. The report was supposed to have been released Tuesday, but has been delayed. Officials say it is likely to come out later in May.
Keeping Cuba on the list is sure to ruffle feathers in Havana, which has vehemently denied any links to terrorism. Cuba's government contends its inclusion on the list is a political vendetta by a U.S. government that has kept an economic embargo on the Communist-run island for 51 years.
There had been speculation among analysts and others that the U.S. might use the report to take Cuba off the list and boost efforts to improve relations.
"It's a missed opportunity. There's no doubt about it," said Philip Peters, a longtime Cuba analyst based in Washington. "It would have been an important step. It would have removed an accusation that the whole world knows is false."
Peters said removing Cuba from the list would have a profound impact on relations between the two countries, but keeping it on meant that a half century of mistrust would continue. He added, however, that the wording used by the State Department left open the possibility that Cuba could be taken off in the future.
Others praised the move. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American Republican from Florida, said keeping Cuba on the list "reaffirms that the Castro regime is, and has always been, a supporter and facilitator of terrorism," she said.
She criticized the administration for not putting North Korea back on the list. The reclusive Asian country was taken off in 2008 amid negotiations over nuclear disarmament that ultimately failed.
Cuba is ostensibly included on the list because it has harbored Colombian rebels and Basque militants as well as some aging members of American militant groups from the 1960s and '70s.
Many Cuba watchers had speculated the time might be ripe for Cuba to get off the list, in large part because the Cuban government is now hosting peace talks between Colombian rebels and that country's government, while the Basque militants have announced a permanent cease-fire.
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