Less than a week before the US government transition, President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday (14) his intention to remove Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism drawn up unilaterally by the US State Department.
The decision was announced along with the suspension of other measures that had been applied during Donald Trump’s first administration as part of his “maximum pressure” policy: that of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which allows lawsuits to be filed in US courts for cases related to properties nationalized after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, and the elimination of sanctions against Cuban entities to prohibit US citizens and institutions from carrying out financial activities.
Brasil de Fato heard from some Cuban experts, who shared their opinions on the significance of the announcement and its implications.
For historian Hassan Pérez Casabona, this “correct decision” should have been made as soon as Biden arrived at the Oval Office on January 21, 2021. “There was never a single event that justified including Cuba on this list,” Casabona argues.
The researcher also states that, during these years, the 240 measures of intensified unilateral coercive measures applied by the Trump administration since 2017 have had a “very negative impact on the Cuban economy” with the aim of “breaking the Cuban Revolution.”
“In the coming weeks, with the arrival of President Trump, they will probably try to design new pretexts and new tricks, even more serious, to continue suffocating the Cuban economy. It should not be ruled out that they will try to codify the issue of terrorism or any other sanction, giving it a legal dimension so that it cannot be revoked in future administrations.”
Economist Joel Ernesto Marill points out that being removed from the list could have “very positive” effects for Cuba, but that these effects “are not automatic” and are subject to “how the banks will interpret this measure by the Biden administration.”
“Being off the list would allow Cuba to gain better access to the international financial system, from which the country is currently practically excluded. This would allow Cuba to improve its trade capacity, enabling Cuban banks to have financial relations with other private banks worldwide. However, for this to happen, it remains to be seen how the banks will interpret this measure. If the banks believe that this measure will be reversed in the short term, it is likely that they will not change anything for fear of future sanctions from the US government,” he argues.
Marill points to the resolution that allows small and medium-sized private Cuban companies to open bank accounts in the US as an example. Despite being approved more than six months ago by the US government, none of these private Cuban entities have yet been able to open an account in the US, as the banks prefer “not to run the risk” of being sanctioned.
‘Right decision, but limited’
Biden’s announcement has been received with caution in Havana. A few days before the inauguration of the new administration of ultra-rightist Donald Trump, it remains to be seen what position the Republican will adopt towards the Caribbean Island.
With a brief statement, the Foreign Ministry said that “despite its limited nature, it is a decision in the right direction and line with the sustained and firm demands of the government and people of Cuba.” Noting that this decision “puts an end to specific coercive measures that, along with many others, cause serious damage to the Cuban economy, with a serious effect on the population.”
The Cuban government states that this is a “topic that is present in Cuba’s official exchanges with the US government.” However, it points out that although it “corrects, in a very limited way, aspects of a cruel and unjust policy,” it is a correction that is taking place “on the brink of a change of government when it should have taken place years ago.”
Likewise, it recalled that “the economic blockade and a good part of the dozens of coercive measures that have been in place since 2017 to reinforce it remain in force,” pointing out the “extraterritorial” nature of the blockade and the violation of the human rights of the Cuban people.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, through his X account, thanked “all those who contributed to the decision announced by the United States to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, in which it should never have been and which, along with two other measures adopted, has had a high cost for the country and Cuban families.”
Bermúdez emphasized that Cuba will continue to “confront and denounce the economic war and the actions of interference, disinformation and discredit financed with US federal funds” and maintain its intention to develop “a civilized relationship with the US that respects our sovereignty.
Edited by: Dayze Rocha