Colombia’s peace talks may impact US-Cuba ties

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela (Miami Herald)

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’ peace negotiations with his country’s FARC Marxist guerrillas could have widespread international repercussions: If the talks succeed, they could, among other things, drive the US government to remove Cuba from its list of terrorist nations.

Here’s why: Cuba, which is playing a key mediation role in Colombia’s peace talks, was kept on the US State Department’s annual black list of “sponsors of terrorism” earlier this year — alongside Iran, Sudan and Syria — mainly because it gives safe haven to FARC rebels and members of the Basque separatist group ETA.

But if Colombia signs a peace treaty with the FARC and the Colombian rebels become a legitimate political party, it will be much harder for the US State Department to justify keeping Cuba on the