The Biden administration will remove Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism as part of a deal to free political prisoners in exchange for easing restrictions.
The Catholic Church has brokered a deal with Cuba that would allow for the humanitarian release of dozens of political prisoners before the end of the Biden administration at noon on Jan. 20, a senior administration official said. The prisoners were arrested after the government’s brutal crackdown on the 2021 protests.
It is a policy move that the new Trump administration is likely to make. Sen. Marco RubioTrump’s choice for secretary of state, whose family fled Cuba in the 1950s, has previously spoken out in favor of sanctions against the communist country.
Senior administration officials said there was no evidence based on the government’s recent assessment to support the country still sponsoring terrorism, and the Trump administration will work on the same information if it decides to re-designate Cuba. Biden’s team has been in contact with his colleagues from Trump’s team on the matter.
President Barack Obama similarly removed Cuba from the terrorist list, before his successor, President-elect Donald Trump, added Cuba in 2021.






