Cuba Is Not a Terrorist Country!

This March 2023 rally in Seattle is part of national monthly rallies calling for changes in US policies toward Cuba. Photo credit: Brenton Brookings, used with permission.

by Cindy Domingo
Co-chair, Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issues Committee

May 2023

WILPF’s Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issue Committee invites you to join us in a new campaign to remove Cuba from the United States State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Please go to www.nnoc.org to find out more information, social media tools and how your branch can take up this national campaign. With one signature, President Biden has the power to remove Cuba from this list, a list that Cuba does not belong on given its historical record of assisting nations, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Trump’s final days in office, he placed Cuba back on the US State Sponsors of Terrorism List for refusing to fulfill right-wing Columbian President Ivan Duque’s 2019 extradition request for ELN’s peace negotiators after peace negotiations in Cuba broke down. The ELN (Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional) is Columbia’s National Liberation Army. This designation, along with Trump’s almost 250 additional sanctions against Cuba, added to the preexisting ones that stand as part of the 62-year-old blockade. These measures have caused even more damage and suffering to the Cuban people as their economy struggles in this post- pandemic recession.

In a November 2022 speech by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla at the United Nations annual vote to lift the blockade, he put the economic damage of the US blockade at $9.1 million for 2020 alone. During the first 14 months of the Biden administration, the damage to the Cuban economy was estimated at $6.35 billion, equivalent to more than $15 million a day, Rodriguez added. For the 30th consecutive year, the UN vote was overwhelmingly in favor of lifting the blockade with 185 in support, the United States and Israel voting no and Ukraine and Brazil abstaining.

The main basis for Trump placing Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism List, and Biden maintaining Cuba’s listing, is no longer valid. Current Columbian President Gustavo Petro has rescinded the extradition request and has applauded Cuba’s role in helping to bring peace between the government and the ELN. Other countries have noted that Cuba has done more to provide health care to the rest of the world than any other country, and that 120 countries have graduates from the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) located in Cuba. There are 30,644 physicians who graduated from ELAM who serve communities globally and the Henry Reeve Brigades, specially trained Cuban healthcare professionals, were sent to fifty countries to aid in the fight against COVID-19.

The #OFFTHELIST campaign was initiated by the National Network on Cuba, of which WILPF is a member, and had its first big national action on March 14 and 15 when hundreds of people called into the White House demanding that Cuba removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List. Many callers also contacted their congressional representatives to educate and move them to demand Biden take action.

Cities and organizations have passed resolutions also demanding Cuba be removed from the list and the continued monthly caravans in cities across the US are highlighting this campaign. We invite you to join us in this important campaign. Contact our issue committee co-chairs if you would like to attend our committee meetings and/or involve your branch in #OFFTHELIST Campaign: Cindy Domingo, cindydomingo@gmail.com; Leni Villagomez Reeves, lenivreeves@gmail.com.