The U.S. position on whether Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism recently has gone through several significant changes.
On December 24, 2024, the U.S. State Department released its latest annual report on countries that were state sponsors of terrorism, and it again included Cuba.[1]
On January 14, 2025, President Biden announced that his administration intended to remove Cuba from that list.[2]
On January 20, just after being sworn in as U.S. President, Donald Trump signed an executive order cancelling various President Biden’s actions, including his Presidential Memorandum of January 14, 2025( (Certification of rescission of Cuba’s Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.[3]
Miguel Diaz-Canel, the Cuban President, said this Trump action was “an act of arrogance and disregard for the truth. It is not surprising. Their goal is to continue strengthening the cruel economic war against Cuba for the purpose of domination, The result of the extreme economic blockade measures imposed by Trump has been to cause shortages among our people, and a significant increase in the migratory flow from Cuba to the United States. This act of mockery and abuse confirms the discredit of the lists and unilateral mechanisms of coercion of the US Government. The legitimate and noble cause of our people will prevail, and once again it will win,. [4]
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[1] U.S. Announces that Cuba Is Still a State Sponsor of Terrorism , dwkcommentaries.com (Dec. 13, 2024).
[2] E.g.,, Biden moves to lift state sponsor of terrorism designation for Cuba, part of deal to free prisoners, AP News (Jan. 14, 2025).
[3] White House, Executive Order: Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions (Jan. 20, 2025) .
[4] Donald Trump revokes Cuba’s exclusion form the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Diario de Cuba (Jan. 21, 2025); Donald Trump reversed the removal of Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Granma (Jan. 21, 2025).
