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Obama endorses removing Cuba from terrorism list
Obama
endorses removing Cuba from terrorism list
Washington, April 15 US President Barack Obama told Congress his
intent to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, the White
House said.
In a message to Congress, Obama on Tuesday certifies that the Cuban government
"has not provided any support for international terrorism" over the
past six months and it has provided assurances that it will not support
terrorist acts in the future, Xinhua reported.
Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro announced in December a thaw in
relations following more than five decades of enmity. Washington and Havana
have held three rounds of talks in past months in a bid to restore diplomatic
relations.
Obama instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to review Cuba's designation as
a state sponsor of terrorism. Cuba's terror listing has been a major sticking
point in making concrete steps toward establishing diplomatic ties.
"After a careful review of Cuba's record, which was informed by the
intelligence community, as well as assurances provided by the Cuban government,
the Secretary of State concluded that Cuba met the conditions for rescinding
its designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism," the White House said in
a statement.
The Congress will have 45 days to review Obama's decision before it is formally
approved, but lawmakers are unlikely to block the move.
Obama's decision came days after he and Castro held talks on the sidelines of a
regional summit in Panama, the first meeting between Cuban and US leaders in
more than half a century.
"We will continue to have differences with the Cuban government, but our
concerns over a wide range of Cuba's policies and actions fall outside the
criteria that is relevant to whether to rescind Cuba's designation as a State
Sponsor of Terrorism," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in the
statement.
Cuba has been on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1982 and was
one of only four countries on the list -- the others are Iran, Syria and Sudan.
"Circumstances have changed since 1982," Kerry said in a statement on
Tuesday. "Our Hemisphere, and the world, looks very different today than
they did 33 years ago."
"Our determination, pursuant to the facts, including corroborative
assurances received from the Government of Cuba and the statutory standard, is
that the time has come to rescind Cuba' s designation as a State Sponsor of
Terrorism," he added.