WOLA Welcomes the Removal of Cuba from Terror Sponsor List, Urges Immediate Release of All Unjustly Detained Cubans

WOLA

Team WOLA

The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) welcomes the Biden administration’s move to rescind Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism and roll back other Trump-era sanctions, including Title III of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996. Likewise, we celebrate news of the anticipated release of 553 people imprisoned in Cuba, but we stress that transparency in this process is crucial. We urge Cuban officials to provide a list of names, a clear timeline, and assurances that those released will not be forced into exile or face conditional liberty measures. It is not enough to merely release the unjustly detained—state repression in Cuba must end.

The Trump administration’s 2021 designation of Cuba as a state-sponsor of terrorism was neither evidence-based nor helpful to aspirations for a more democratic Cuba. Its effects went far beyond isolating state enterprises, rendering Cuba—and by extension, Cuban citizens—a pariah of global commerce. It exacerbated Cuba’s economic collapse, deepened hardships for ordinary Cubans, limited humanitarian assistance, and, coupled with mismanagement and state repression, contributed to an exodus of over a million people in the last few years.

The delisting was long overdue, and Biden had promised to review the designation upon taking office. While a welcome move, its impact remains unclear given the change in U.S. administrations on January 20.

The simultaneous diplomatic efforts to secure the release of 553 imprisoned Cubans were an important step forward. We remain hopeful that these people are among the hundreds of Cubans unjustly imprisoned on charges related to dissent, particularly since the July 11, 2021 protests. As of January 14, some 730 Cubans remain in prison for charges associated with public protests, while human rights groups place the total number of unjustly detained at around 1,000.

The families of those unjustly detained deserve timely and transparent information regarding the release of their loved ones. At the same time, the Cuban government must end its use of arbitrary detentions as a means of repression. No Cuban should face prison for exercising their right to express dissent. 

In moving to rescind Cuba’s designation, the Biden administration has taken a meaningful, though much delayed, step in the spirit of its previous announcements in support of the Cuban people and civil society. We urge the incoming Trump administration to continue raising concerns about the human rights situation in Cuba and push for the respect and guarantee of fundamental civil liberties. This, however, should not include a politicized redesignation of Cuba as a state-sponsor of terrorism, or other punitive measures that characterized Trump’s policy towards Cuba during his first term. Decades of U.S. policies focused on isolation and hostility have worsened the livelihoods of ordinary Cubans while failing to advance political reforms in the country. 

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