U.S. Required to Withdraw Cuba From Blacklist of Countries Sponsoring Terrorism

The Center for International Policy and the Latin America Working Group today called for the U.S. government to remove Cuba from a list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

In the context of an international conference of experts, representatives from both organizations challenged the arguments made by Washington to incorporate Cuba in that list, according to Telam.

“The inclusion of Cuba, without any evidence, is a fake that needs to be corrected,” said Mavis Anderson, speaker on behalf of the Latin American Working Group, who said that this is a “misuse of this list as a foreign policy tool”. For his part, Wayne Smith of the Center for International Policy and former U.S. diplomat drew attention to the fact that “even the State Department reports there is no evidence that Cuba collaborates with terrorists or encourages such actions.”

The conference included Robert Muse, an attorney specializing in legal issues related to Cuba, Josef Korbel, founder of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and Carlos Alzugaray, professor at the University of Havana.

The controversial statement was issued while carrying out a sanction from the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department against a foreign bank for trading with Cuba in violation of regulations set by Washington’s criminal policy to blockade the island, according to Prensa Latina.

In a notice shown on the treasury website and quoted by Prensa Latina, the OFAC announced that a New York based branch of German bank, Commerzbank was fined $175,000 for supporting transactions that violate the financial blockade imposed by Washington against Cuba.