Just days before leaving office, President Donald Trump’s administration has placed Cuba back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, citing Cuba’s support of Venezuela. In 2015, President Barack Obama removed the Caribbean island from the list.
It’s an odd move, not only because the president’s days are numbered in the White House, but also because President-elect Joe Biden said he wants to improve US-Cuban relations.
“With this action, we will once again hold Cuba’s government accountable and send a clear message. The Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and subversion of US justice,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
Cuba’s continued support for terrorism in the Western Hemisphere must be stopped. Today the United States is returning Cuba to the State Sponsors of Terrorism list to hold the Castro regime accountable for its malign behavior.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 11, 2021
The move from Trump has angered Cubans who calls his decision “political opportunism.”
Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez responded to Pompeo in a tweet telling the Secretary of State to essentially worry about what’s going on in the United States, following the events that took place in Washington, DC.
Sec Pompeo announcement is an arrogant act by a discredited and morally bankrupted government that incited an insurrection in its own country.
— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) January 12, 2021
The true motivation behind this action is to impose additional obstacles to any prospective restoration of bilateral relations.