In the dying days of the Trump Presidency the US State Department designated Cuba a ‘State Sponsor of Terrorism’. Regrettably, the measure will slow efforts by the Biden administration to take a calibrated approach to gradually improving US-Cuba relations.
The decision to do so was made by the outgoing US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, with little external consultation and after months of legal review. It is by any measure hard to justify or see it being anything other than a throw of the political dice by someone who believes himself to be in the running to be the next Republican Presidential candidate.
In his 11 January statement, Mr Pompeo said that Cuba has “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbour to terrorists”.
