The United States has formally dropped Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, the State Department announced on Friday May 29, 2015, adding a symbolic punctuation mark to talks that aim to end decades of antagonism.
The removal of Cuba from the terrorism list eliminates an obstacle to restoring diplomatic ties between the countries after a 50-year estrangement.
Cuban diplomats had urged rescission as a condition of normalising relations, alongside the restoration of bank services for Cubans in the US.
But, the removal will have a limited impact on US economic sanctions, which remain in place under the embargo that has been imposed by Congress for decades.
Rescinding the designation against Cuba is “an important step”, an American official told Reuters, before qualifying that “as a practical matter, most restrictions related to exports and foreign aid will remain due to the comprehensive trade and arms embargo”.
Taking Cuba off the list has two main consequences, diplomatic and economic, said Christopher Sabatini, a Columbia University professor who specialises in Cuba studies.
“This is something that for a long time sort of stuck in the craw of the Cubans, who really resented being lumped together with countries like Iran and Syria,” he said.
“So it’s important on a diplomatic, transactional level, and on a financial one while it doesn’t remove all the obstacles, it eases the possibility of one of Obama’s principle reforms and opens up opportunities for US travellers and banks.”
Sabatini said that with Cuba off the list, American banks and credit card companies would have less to fear of the risks to their reputation and finances that could be imposed by the bad publicity and potential fines of doing business with a designated sponsor of terror.
The next steps, Sabatini suggested, were discussions about freedom of movement for American diplomats in Cuba, who face tight restrictions on where they can go and whom they can meet, for fear of their fomenting dissent among citizens.
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