Thousands of Cubans gather to celebrate the countryās National Rebellion Day, a yearly commemoration of the Cuban revolution. Photo: Hampton/File photo.
By Calla Mairead Walsh – May 29, 2023
While Biden doubles down on Cuba’s designation as a so-called āState Sponsor of Terrorism,” the US people are calling for an end to US terrorism and sanctions against Cuba.
On Tuesday, May 23rd, theĀ State DepartmentĀ reportedĀ that Cuba ā along with Iran, Syria, the Democratic Peopleās Republic of Korea, and Venezuela ā are not ānot cooperating fullyā in the United Statesā supposed fight againstĀ terrorism.Ā TheĀ Biden administrationĀ officially designates Cuba as a āState Sponsor of Terrorismā (SSOT), as well as Iran, Syria, and the DPRK.
Literally 0% of AmericansĀ viewĀ Cuba as a serious threat, and the Biden administration hasĀ providedĀ no evidence of Cuba supporting terrorism in any way. Cuban and American officials evenĀ metĀ earlier this month in Havana to discuss cooperating on anti-terrorism measures. So why is Biden keeping Cuba on the āState Sponsors of Terrorismā list?
Sixty-four years after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the United States is still waging an economic and media war against Cuba. The administrations of Trump and now Biden have weaponizedĀ theĀ āState Sponsors of Terrorismā list to isolate Cuba internationally and justifyĀ continuingĀ the genocidal American blockade.
The impacts of being labeled a āstate sponsor of terrorā
It goes without saying that the United States is the biggest āState Sponsor of Terrorismā in the world. The US is the only country with over 800 foreign militaryĀ basesĀ andĀ spendsĀ more on its military than 144 countries combined. The US has launched 251 foreign militaryĀ interventionsĀ since 1991. AĀ reportĀ recently published by Brown University shows that the post-9/11 wars the US waged in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan killed at least 4.5 million and displaced 38 to 60 million people. But the word āterroristā is almost never applied to the US government. The term is highly politicized and subjective in the United States, used to demonize internal and external enemies and justify waging war on them, be it by bombs or blockades.
Designating Cuba as āterroristā exacerbates the already devastating impacts of the American blockade, which hasĀ stolenĀ an estimated $144.4 billion from the Cuban economy from the early 1960s to 2020, according to the United Nations. The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)Ā determinedĀ that US sanctions on Cuba āconstitute the most severe and prolonged system of unilateral coercive measures ever applied against any country.ā
On top of the blockade, Cubaās āterroristā designationĀ restrictsĀ American foreign assistance, exports of dual-use items, and loans from the World Bank. It has also prevented Cuban Americans from transferring money to family in Cuba, stopped faith-based groups from shipping humanitarian supplies, and inhibited American universities from working with Cuban academics and institutions. Non-US citizens who have traveled to Cuba, a supposedly āterroristā country, also have restrictions on visas to enter or visit the United States.
Despite being a list created and maintainedĀ onlyĀ by the United States, because of its enormous power over the global financial system, the designation inhibits the ability of Cuba ā and the other countries listed ā to trade normally with the rest of the world. Banks donāt want to risk giving loans to a country labeled as āterroristā by the hegemonic United States. The United States has sued foreign companies and banks forĀ hundreds of millionsĀ of dollars for violating American sanctions on Cuba, and many major international banks no longer provide services to Cuba for fear of retaliation.Ā The blockade as a whole is extraterritorial and thusĀ violatesĀ international law.
The history of Cubaās āterroristā designation and us terrorism against Cuba
President Ronald Reagan first added Cuba to the terror list in 1982, citing Cubaās support for national liberation movements across the world, such as giving military aid to Angola to defeat a US-backed invasion by the South African apartheid regime.Ā Meanwhile, the United States was backingĀ violent terrorismĀ to sabotage the Cuban Revolution.
As Cuba expert Professor William LeoGrandeĀ said, Cubaās āterroristā designation āis ironic because in the 1960s, the CIA sponsored assassinations attempts, sabotage and paramilitary raids against Cubaāwhat today would be called state-sponsored terrorismāand CIA-trained Cuban exiles continued such attacks for the next several decades.ā
Luis Posada Carriles, theĀ mastermindĀ behind many of these US-backed terrorist attacks ā including theĀ bombingĀ of Cubana Flight 455 in 1976 and a series of hotelĀ bombings in 1997 āĀ died peacefully in Florida in 2018, protected by the US government and lionized by the right-wing Cuban-American community in Miami. But Cuba, according to the State Department, was the real terrorist.
š§µ The terrorist attack the US doesn't want you to know about: Cubana Flight 455 šØšŗ
The CIA trained Cuban exiles who planted 2 time bombs on the plane on October 6, 1976. All 73 passengers & crew were murdered, including the entire Cuban Olympic fencing team. pic.twitter.com/UwORmyD5SL
— Calla (@CallaWalsh) March 10, 2023
During President Barack Obamaās second term, he pursued a policy of ārapprochementā with Cuba, restoring diplomatic relations and lifting some travel and trade restrictions. The Obama administrationĀ removedĀ Cuba from the terror list, saying, āwe will continue to have differences with the Cuban government, but our concerns over a wide range of Cubaās policies and actions fall outside the criteria that is relevant to whether to rescind Cubaās designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.ā
Obamaās āfriendlyā policy was stillĀ aimedĀ at regime change through a new set of tactics, and he continued funding covert operations and ādemocracy promotionā programs aimed at undermining the Cuban Revolution. Nevertheless, rapprochement had positive effects for the Cuban and American people, especially renewed travel and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. All of this was undone by Donald Trump.
Trump tightened the blockade and added an additional 243 sanctions on Cuba. Then, just four days after the January 6th insurrection, Trump and his neoconservative Secretary of State Mike PompeoĀ redesignatedĀ Cuba as a āState Sponsor of Terrorism.āĀ They made this last-minute moveĀ in bitter spiteĀ of Cuba, butĀ also to create a politicalĀ obstacleĀ for President Biden, who would beĀ pressured from different sides to keep or remove Cubaās āterroristā designation.
Biden and Trumpās Hawkish Cuba policy
Many Cubans and Americans alike hoped Biden would re-normalize US-Cuba relations as heĀ promisedĀ during his campaign, when heĀ saidĀ he would āpromptly reverse the failed Trump policies that have inflicted harm on the Cuban people and done nothing to advance democracy and human rights.ā But Biden has changed little. He slightlyĀ easedĀ some Trump-era restrictions in May 2022 but has also renewed his predecessorās harshest measures. As a result, Cuba ā also impacted by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine ā isĀ experiencingĀ its worst economic crisis and fuel shortages in decades.
The economic crisis in Cuba is fueling a political crisis for Biden at the border, as more Cubans than ever are leaving for the United States to escape the crushing impacts of sanctions.Ā A group of Democratic lawmakers isĀ urging Biden to lift Trump-era sanctions on Cuba and VenezuelaĀ to slow the surge of migration, but Biden has not moved a finger. Instead, he follows the line of conservative Cuban-American lawmakers on Cuba policy, especially Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who Biden needs to push his appointments through the confirmation process.
21 House Democrats urged @POTUS last week to lift Trump-era sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela contributing to record levels of migration:
āEnding these indiscriminate economic sanctions is an indispensable part of addressing the migrant crisis.āhttps://t.co/VZbkZ7AgRZ pic.twitter.com/useckZPg96
— Belly of the Beast (@bellybeastcuba) May 15, 2023
Menendez, who is currently underĀ investigationĀ for corruption,Ā lambastedĀ his fellow Democratsā push against Trump-era sanctions and claimed that the Cuban and Venezuelan governments ā not US policy ā were solely responsible for the economic crises in those countries.Ā The Washington PostĀ reportedĀ that āPrivately, senior Biden officials have conceded that picking a fight with [Menendez] is not worth whatever benefit might come from relaxing sanctions on [Cuba and Venezuela], even if it would fulfill a campaign promise Biden made to restore President Barack Obamaās policies toward Cuba.ā
Despite Biden claiming to care about āhuman rightsā and āsupporting the Cuban people,ā he is not changing his internationallyĀ condemnedĀ policy ā which violates Cubaās sovereignty and human rights ā because doing so is not politically expedient.
Activists who support normalizing US-Cuba relations have concentrated on pressuring Biden to remove Cuba from the terror list because, as Noam Chomsky and Vijay PrashadĀ wroteĀ inĀ Peoples Dispatch,Ā āBiden can remove Cuba from this list with a stroke of his pen. Itās as simple as thatā ā unlike the blockade, which is a complex amalgamation of hundreds of different laws in the hands of Congress.
In the State Departmentās most recent public remarks on Cuba, they have doubled down on Trumpās policy of keeping Cuba on the list. Earlier this year, far-right Florida Republicans Maria Salazar and Marco RubioĀ introducedĀ the FORCE Act in the House and Senate, respectively, to codify into law Cubaās āterroristā designation so that it could only be removed by Congress, not the President alone.
And not only that. Cuba would have to meet impossible criteria, completely changing their political and economic system to be what the United States defines as āfree,ā in order for the designation to be lifted. AsĀ Peopleās DispatchĀ wrote, āEssentially, Salazar is demanding that the Cuban people overthrow their own government and overturn the Cuban political system which has been built by the people and for the people over the last 60 years.ā
It could not be more clear that the terror list has nothing to do with preventing actual terrorism; rather, it is about harming enemy states of the US. In March, when SalazarĀ interrogatedĀ Secretary of State Antony Blinken about Cubaās āterroristā designation, he said that Cuba would have to āmeet a very high barā to be removed from the list and the State Department had no plans to do so.
Earlier this month, Cuban journalist Liz Oliva FernandezĀ stumped State Department Spokesperson Vedant Patel when she asked him āWhy is Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list if you are trying to work with them to fight against terrorism?ā He completely dodged the question, refusing to provide any examples of Cuban terrorism.
Cuba is on the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list. But "what evidence is there that Cuba sponsors terrorism?" @LizOlivaFdez asked @StateDeputySpox yesterday.
His answer was a new one from the @StateDept.
Apparently, it has nothing to do with terrorism at all. pic.twitter.com/vMJiz1fMuB
— Belly of the Beast (@bellybeastcuba) May 3, 2023
Even anti-Cuba mainstream US mediaĀ hasĀ reportedĀ that the āterroristā designation is ābogus.ā NBC News wrote, āaccording to half a dozen interviews with former intelligence analysts and officials who worked on Cuba policy in both Republican and Democratic administrations, the āconsensus positionā in the US intelligence community has for decades been that the communist-led nation does not sponsor terrorism.ā
Larry Wilkerson, chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell in the George W. Bush administration said that āāCuba is not a state sponsor of terrorismā was a mantra from the moment I walked into the State Department to the moment I walked out. Itās a fiction that we have createdā¦to reinforce the rationale for the blockade.ā
Similarly, Congressman Jim McGovern (Democrat-Massachusetts) and Senator Patrick Leahy (Democrat-Vermont)Ā publishedĀ an op-ed inĀ The Boston GlobeĀ explaining that ā[i]tās an open secret in Washington that Cuba does not belong on the list and that the previous false justification by the Trump administration was politically motivated.ā
The #offthelist campaign
The US government does not represent the American people on most issues ā especially Cuba. The blockade of CubaĀ persistsĀ against the democratic will of the American people, a majority of whom have consistently opposed the blockade, especially restrictions on trading medicine and food with Cuba.
In the United States, Cuban-Americans, solidarity activists, labor unions, and local governments, have organized resistance to Bidenās designation of Cuba as a āState Sponsor of Terrorism.ā Since January 2023, theĀ National Network on CubaĀ (NNOC), a coalition of over 50 organizations across the US working to end the blockade, has beenĀ leadingĀ an international campaign to get Cuba #OffTheList.
On June 25th, this movement willĀ rallyĀ at the White House ā and in other locations around the world ā to demand Biden take Cuba off the list, lift all US sanctions, and end US terrorism against Cuba. The NNOC is organizing these rallies alongside the Canadian Network on Cuba, ANSWER Coalition, CODEPINK, IFCO/Pastors for Peace, the Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect (ACERE), the International Peopleās Assembly, and over 70 other groups.
The voices of the American people and our progressive movements are clear: we want normalized relations with Cuba.Ā Just in the past couple of yearsā¦
ā¢ Labor unions and city councils have passedĀ over 80 resolutions supporting an end to the blockade, promoting scientific collaboration with Cuba, and urging that Cuba be removed from the terror list. And, just last week,Ā the Washington, DC Council unanimouslyĀ votedĀ to pass a Cuba solidarity resolution and sent copies to Biden and key congresspeople urging them to end the blockade.Ā Combined, these resolutions represent well over 50 million Americans.
ā¢ The 33 member states of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) demandedĀ that the United States remove Cuba from the terror list and āreiterated their rejection of the US unilateral lists and certifications that affect Latin American countries.ā
ā¢ Across the world, there have been monthly rallies and car caravans initiated by Cuban-Americans callingĀ to end the blockade, take Cuba off the list, and buildĀ Puentes de AmorĀ (bridges of love) between the American and Cuban people.
ā¢ Over 100 Democratic House members urgedĀ Biden to remove Cuba from the SSOT list and normalize US-Cuba relations. Their open letter was signed by big names like Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations Chair Barbara Lee of California, Rules Committee Chair James McGovern of Massachusetts, and Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gregory Meeks of New York.
ā¢ Nearly 9,000 Cuban and American business owners sentĀ a letter to Biden demanding he lift Trump-era sanctions and deliver on promises to help Cubaās private sector, with the main demand being to take Cuba off the terror list.
ā¢ Over 10,000 people and 100 progressive advocacy groups signedĀ an open letter organized by CODEPINK urging Biden to reverse Trumpās terrorism designation for Cuba and to reinstate Obama-era policy with the island.
ā¢ Hundreds of US lawyers wroteĀ to Biden urging him to take Cuba off the list.
ā¢ We are rallying at the White House ā and around the world ā to tell Biden that Cuba is not a terrorist state, and the American people wonāt stand for US terrorism against Cuba.
šØ CALL TO ACTION! #OffTheList
Rally with us on June 25 to tell President Biden:
šØšŗ CUBA IS NOT A TERRORIST STATE!
šØšŗ END US ECONOMIC TERRORISM AGAINST CUBA!
Join us in DC for a weekend of action, organizational unity, and solidarity with Cuba: https://t.co/8XBARZMOow pic.twitter.com/rlDRfUa5Rb
— National Network on Cuba šØšŗ (@NNOCuba) May 22, 2023
Calla WalshĀ is an anti-imperialist organizer and writer. She is a co-chair of the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 50+ organizations across the United States working to end the US war on Cuba.
(Hampton)
