Five months after President Obama‘s announcement that the United States and Cuba would move to normalize diplomatic relations, the State Department has officially removed the island nation from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
According to Bloomberg Business and multiple other outlets, Cuba’s removal from the list was officially announced via an emailed statement on Friday morning.
“While the United States has significant concerns and disagreements with a wide range of Cuba’s policies and actions,” cautions department spokesperson Jeff Rathke, “these fall outside the criteria relevant to the rescission of a State Sponsor of Terrorism designation.”
President Ronald Reagan added Cuba to the State Department’s list back in 1982. In order for the announced removal to occur, Congress either had to approve (or not block) the the action during the 45-day period following Obama’s April 14th announcement of a massive “four-month interagency review.” No prominent steps were taken to block the removal, hence Friday’s announcement.
However, this has no effect on the trade embargo the U.S. first placed on Cuba back in 1960 during Dwight D. Eisenhower‘s presidency. It remains in place until both countries have had adequate time to normalize diplomatic relations.
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