US makes it official as it takes Cuba鈥檚 name off terrorism list
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THE United States formally dropped Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism yesterday, an important step toward restoring diplomatic ties but one that will have limited effect on removing US sanctions on the communist-ruled island.
President Barack Obama had announced on April 14 he would drop the former Cold War rival from the list, initiating a 45-day review period for Congress that expired yesterday.
Obama ordered a review of Cuba’s status on the terrorism list as part of a landmark policy shift on December 17, when he and Cuban President Raul Castro said they would seek to restore diplomatic relations that Washington severed in 1961, and work toward a broader normalization of ties.
Removal from the list is a step that has more symbolic than practical significance. It removes a prohibition on receiving US economic aid, a ban on US arms exports and controls on “dual-use” items with military and civilian applications.
But those bans remain in place under other, overlapping US sanctions, since Cuba is still subject to a wider US economic embargo that has been in place since the early 1960s.
Cuba had cited its designation as a state terrorism sponsor as an obstacle to the re-establishing of diplomatic relations and upgrading of their so-called interests sections in Havana and Washington into full-blown embassies.
The two sides have held four rounds of high level negotiations since December and say that they are closing in on a deal which will lead to the embassies being reopened.
The State Department must give the US Congress a 15-day notice before opening an embassy.
Washington put Cuba on its terrorism blacklist in 1982, when Havana supported armed guerrilla movements in Latin America.
That support ended after the collapse of Cuba’s close trade and aid benefactor, the Soviet Union, in 1991.
Only Iran, Syria and Sudan remain on the US list.
Obama has eased restrictions on Americans making authorized trips to Cuba, but general tourism to the Caribbean island remains illegal.
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