Outgoing President Biden has removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism mere days before leaving office. This decision has sparked outrage among Republican lawmakers who argue that stricter penalties should remain in place for the Communist-led nation.

The Associated Press broke the news about Biden’s move to relax sanctions on Cuba, but the White House has yet to provide an explanation or statement about the rationale behind the policy shift.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican of Cuban descent and President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, has the potential to reverse this designation after taking office.

Another prominent Cuban-American Republican, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, harshly criticized the decision, describing it as “unacceptable on its merits.” “The terrorism advanced by the Cuban regime has not ceased. I will work with President Trump and my colleagues to immediately reverse and limit the damage from the decision,” Cruz stated.

South Florida Congressman Carlos Gimenez also expressed his disapproval through a fiery tweet. “President Biden is a pathetic coward. Come January 20th, there will be a NEW SHERIFF in town & President Trump alongside Secretary of State [Rubio] will not only put #Cuba BACK on the list but PULVERIZE the regime once & for all!”

The designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism was originally reinstated almost four years ago by then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during the concluding days of Donald Trump’s first term.

Pompeo pointed to Cuba’s long history of providing sanctuary to violent leftist militants and revolutionaries as justification for the designation. “For decades, the Cuban government has fed, housed, and provided medical care for murderers, bombmakers, and hijackers, while many Cubans go hungry, homeless, and without basic medicine,” stated the State Department at the time.

The department highlighted Cuba’s ties to the National Liberation Army (ELN), a group identified by the U.S. as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. “Members of the National Liberation Army (ELN), a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, traveled to Havana to conduct peace talks with the Colombian government in 2017,” the statement explained. “Citing peace negotiation protocols, Cuba has refused Colombia’s requests to extradite ten ELN leaders living in Havana after the group claimed responsibility for the January 2019 bombing of a Bogota police academy that killed 22 people and injured more than 87 others.”

The statement further detailed how Cuba has provided refuge to individuals wanted by the U.S. for politically motivated violence. “Cuba also harbors several U.S. fugitives from justice wanted on or convicted of charges of political violence, many of whom have resided in Cuba for decades,” the State Department said. “For example, the Cuban regime has refused to return Joanne Chesimard, on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List for executing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973; Ishmael LaBeet, convicted of killing eight people in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1972; Charles Lee Hill, charged with killing New Mexico state policeman Robert Rosenbloom in 1971; and others.”

The immediate economic ramifications of Biden’s action for Cuba remain unclear, although the designation of a country as a state sponsor of terrorism typically triggers one of the most stringent sanctions regimes available.

Currently, only three other nations are classified as state sponsors of terrorism: Iran, North Korea, and Syria.

{Matzav.com}