January 14, 2021

Will Biden Undo Cuba Terror Status?

Obama’s theory failed — normalizing relations with Havana didn’t compel the Castro regime to change.

The communist dictatorship of Cuba has been placed once again on the U.S. State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism after Barack Obama removed it in 2015. Obama’s theory that normalizing relations with the Castro regime would encourage democratic reforms proved a failure. If anything, it only had the effect of further strengthening the regime’s hold on power.

Furthermore, rather than dissuade Cuba from supporting the efforts of terrorists, the Castro regime expanded its support, as Havana offered military intelligence assistance to Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. The State Department noted that “Cuba and Venezuela continued to provide permissive environments for terrorists.” Those terrorists include the Colombian drug cartel known as FARC, as well as the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN).

The State Department report states that “members of the ELN who were in Havana to conduct peace talks with the Colombian government since 2017 also remain in Cuba,” where they have been protected from extradition even as they “claimed responsibility for the January 2019 bombing of a Bogota police academe, which killed 22 and injured 87 others.”

In making the designation announcement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo explained, “The Trump Administration has been focused from the start on denying the Castro regime the resources it used to oppress its people at home, and countering its malign interference in Venezuela and the rest of the Western Hemisphere. With this action, we will once again hold Cuba’s government accountable and send a clear message: the Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and subversion of the U.S.”

Naturally, Democrats were quick to criticize the move. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) called it blatantly political and accused the administration of making “a mockery of what had been a credible, objective measure of a foreign government’s active support for terrorism.” That is nothing more than the usual Democrat projection. It is Obama who made a mockery of credible foreign policy. Unfortunately, we expect Joe Biden to follow suit.

Nonetheless, this move by the Trump administration will make it more difficult for Biden to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba. As the American Enterprise Institute’s Ryan Berg explained, “A diplomatic opening with a country designated as a ‘state sponsor of terror’ is a difficult lift. Therefore, one of the first steps to any Cuba opening would likely require a reversal of this decision.” And given Cuba’s continued record since 2015 of continuing to aid and protect terrorists, it will not be an easy task.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.