A Call for Cuba’s Removal from the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism
12-01-11
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 1, 2011
A Call for Cuba’s Removal from
the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism
Washington, DC – Today, the Center for International Policy and the Latin America Working Group hosted a conference discussing the placement of Cuba on the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Speakers described the shaky foundation for Cuba’s placement on the list and the effects it has on foreign policy between the United States and Cuba.
“Cuba’s inclusion on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism without any evidence is a sham that needs immediate correction. It is a misuse of this list as a foreign policy tool and places obstacles in the way of the development of a sane and post-Cold War policy toward Cuba,” said Mavis Anderson, a senior associate with a focus on Cuba at the Latin America Working Group.
Wayne Smith, director of the Cuba Project at the Center for International Policy, expressed the hope that this conference clarified the situation for those who attended and could have some affect on policy in the future. Cuba has been on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism since March 1, 1982 and remains there today along with Iran, Sudan and Syria. In October 2008 former President George W. Bush removed North Korea from the same list.
“It is quite clear that Cuba should not be on the list,” said Smith. “There is no evidence to place it there, which anyone can see even in the State Department’s own report on the subject.”
The participants discussed the economic and political repercussions of Cuba’s placement on the list and the boundaries they presented to eventually improving relations.
“Removing it from the list will not be easy, and it’s no panacea, but it’s clearly the right thing to do – and long overdue. The hardliners use Cuba’s false designation on the State Sponsors List as an excuse for everything – from stopping travel to the island to preventing the Obama administration from negotiating for the release of Alan Gross. We should no longer allow this untruth to be the foundation stone for blocking reforms and changing U.S. policy toward Cuba,” said Sarah Stephens, a speaker and the executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas.
The speakers included Stephens; Robert Muse, a lawyer specializing in legal issues regarding Cuba; Carlos Alzugaray, a professor from the University of Havana’s Center for the Study of the United States; and Arturo Lopez Levy, a lecturer at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver and former secretary of the B’nai B’rith of the Cuban Jewish Community. Anderson and Smith provided introductory remarks and discussion of the policy.
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Contacts:
Wayne Smith, Center for International Policy
202-232-3317 | wsmith@ciponline.org
Mavis Anderson, Latin America Working Group
202-546-7010 | manderson@lawg.org
