For decades Cuba’s Castro dictatorship has had close ties to terrorist organizations. From FARC and ELN in Latin America and ETA in Spain to terrorists in Iran and the Middle East, the Castro dictatorship has provided cover, support, and a safe haven to murderous terrorists.
Despite its long and ongoing history of aiding and abetting terrorists groups, President Obama decided to remove the Castro dictatorship from the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. It was one of the many unilateral concessions the Obama administration made to the Castro dictatorship in exchange for absolutely nothing.
But now two Florida members of the U.S. congress are urging President Trump to return Cuba to the State Sponsors of Terrorism list (via Floridian Press):
Florida U.S. Reps. Francis Rooney (R) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R) have penned a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to encourage the Trump administration to reestablish the terrorism designation on Cuba.
Both men pointed to Cuba’s support of Dictator Nicolas Maduro’s regime and other regional terrorist organizations, such as Colombia’s FARC.
“Four years ago, president Obama removed Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism,” said Rooney “Despite this decision, Cuba has continued to support known terrorist organizations and corrupt dictators such as the regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, and has continued to harbor known terrorists sought by American law enforcement. Accordingly, I support the Administration’s firm stance toward our communist island neighbor and urge Secretary Pompeo and President Trump to redesignate Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.”
“I commend President Trump and his administration for imposing tough sanctions on the brutal regime in Cuba, and for the unprecedented decision to allow lawsuits to proceed against traffickers in confiscated properties. With these key changes, there remains a major mistake of the previous administration to rectify: returning Cuba to the state sponsors of terrorism list.
There was no justification then for removing the Cuban regime from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, and there is no justification now for not adding them back in.