Seen in the context of a maddeningly complex geopolitical world with nightmarish national security implications, dealing with Cuba in 2015 should be low-hanging fruit. And among the lowest of all: removing Cuba from the U.S. state sponsor of terrorism blacklist.
It’s a designation applied by the U.S. Department of State to countries that have “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.” Countries so designated are impacted by various sanctions–ranging from U.S. foreign assistance to certain exports/sales to financial restrictions. The list is currently comprised of Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.
Cuba has been on it since the Reagan Administration and harkens back to Havana’s ties with the Basque ETA and FARC of Colombia. That was the world of 1982. This is not. It makes no sense. In fact, North Korea used to be on the state sponsor of terrorism list. It was removed in 2008 by the Administration of George W. Bush.
Put it this way. We have serious terrorism threats–and they have nothing to do with Cuba. They have everything to do with perverted, homicidal Islam in its various permutations. Cuba is no more of a terrorist threat than are the Bahamas. Moreover, imagine removing North Korea from the list–but not Cuba?
There’s reason to expect this low-hanging diplomatic fruit will now be plucked as a result of President Obama’s detente overture. Hopefully it can happen before next month’s Summit of the Americas in Panama, which will be attended by Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro.