35 former heads of state urge Biden to remove Cuba from list of State Sponsors of Terrorism : Peoples Dispatch

35 former leaders from across the globe recently penned an open letter to US President Biden, urging him to remove Cuba from the US’s “State Sponsors of Terrorism” list.

“The reasons we state for requesting the removal of Cuba from the list of State sponsors of terrorism are based on a strong humanitarian appeal that seeks to alleviate the situation of millions of innocent people and our deep conviction that the government of Cuba is seriously committed against terrorism and in favor of peace in the region and the world,” the letter states. “No country should compromise for political purposes the seriousness of the fight against the scourge of terrorism.”

Cuba was added to the US’s “State Sponsors of Terrorism” (SSoT) list in 2021 by Donald Trump. Biden has not removed this designation, despite indications throughout his presidency that he would turn away from Trump’s extreme anti-Cuba positioning.

Signatories to the letter include Dilma Rousseff, former President of Brazil, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, former President of Argentina, Evo Morales, former president of Bolivia, Rafael Correa, former president of Ecuador, and Manuel Zelaya, former president of Honduras.

The Cuban people are already suffering under a 60-year-plus blockade. The SSoT designation has far-reaching consequences that contribute to shortages of daily necessities such as fuel and medicine, inhibit humanitarian aid, discourage financial transactions and trade.

“The difficult situation that Cuba’s economy is going through can be explained, among other factors, by the unilateral sanctions applied by the United States and condemned for their unilateralism by the United Nations system and by many people and institutions in different scenarios and opportunities,” the letter reads.

“The migratory wave of Cuban emigrants to the United States, unprecedented in its magnitude, is perhaps the most illustrative example of the devastating impact and suffering caused by extreme measures against the Cuban economy derived from its inclusion in the list of state sponsors of terrorism.”

The full text of the letter and its signatories is below:

Mr. President,

As you are aware, during decades of unilateral sanctions and coercive measures, Cuba’s economy is one of the hardest hit in the world and is today, socially, at a point of difficult return. In the administration of Barack Obama—of which you were a part—progress was made in a historic step towards the relief of those sanctions and the normalization of diplomatic relations between two neighbors that have no reason to deprive each other of their mutual cooperation for the simple fact of having political systems with different ideological inspirations.

There is no record in our history since the post-war period, when the United Nations System was founded, of international regulations stipulating that relations between States should be governed or conditioned according to their level of ideological harmony, which would mean the end of sovereignty and self-determination as fundamental supports on which the system of world governance in peace has been established after the Second World War. Precisely, and based on this reasoning, Obama himself recognized the anachronism of some unilateral measures against states such as Cuba.

In May of this year, the State Department took the decision to remove Cuba from the list of states that do not cooperate in the fight against terrorism, a correct and fair decision that we applauded at the time. In spite of this, and in a contradictory manner, the authorities of your country insist on keeping Cuba included in the other list—that of state sponsors of terrorism—how can it be affirmed, at the same time, that a country cooperates in the world fight against terrorism and at the same time accuse it of openly supporting it?

Without any proof whatsoever, Cuba is accused of having links with terrorist activities of which it has been a victim, and because of this presumption, harsh sanctions are imposed on it, which are directly affecting its population and permanently unbalancing its economy.

Moreover, maintaining Cuba’s inclusion on the list of State sponsors of terrorism is a coercive measure that is hardly justifiable in the 21st century, when equality among States should be a reality. This unjust decision also affects the universal charter of human rights, the ethical pillar of contemporary international relations, as it has an impact on the most vulnerable sectors of the Cuban population that have been hit by the harmful effects of the pandemic in recent times, aggravated by the lack of medicines and equipment to deal with the emergency.

The difficult situation that Cuba’s economy is going through can be explained, among other factors, by the unilateral sanctions applied by the United States and condemned for their unilateralism by the United Nations system and by many people and institutions in different scenarios and opportunities. In the United Nations General Assembly, the blockade against Cuba has been condemned in more than thirty resolutions by an absolute majority.

In Cuba, Mr. President, the situation is beginning to be dramatic, and this reflects a critical situation that can and should be corrected if justice is done to Cuba’s proven efforts to fight against and not with terrorism.

The migratory wave of Cuban emigrants to the United States, unprecedented in its magnitude, is perhaps the most illustrative example of the devastating impact and suffering caused by extreme measures against the Cuban economy derived from its inclusion in the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The extraterritorial impact of the financial siege measures against Cuba also affect the interests of our countries’ banking and business sectors.

The active participation of the Cuban government in the construction of the Peace Agreements signed in Havana in 2016 between the State of Colombia and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), added to its recent intervention as guarantor country of the dialogue table that seeks peace between the Colombian State and the National Liberation Army (ELN) demonstrate the humanitarian will for peace and not for war that animates Cuba and its government.

In summary, Mr. President, the reasons we state for requesting the removal of Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism are based on a strong humanitarian appeal that seeks to alleviate the situation of millions of innocent people and our deep conviction that the government of Cuba is seriously committed against terrorism and in favor of peace in the region and the world. No country should compromise for political purposes the seriousness of the fight against the scourge of terrorism.

We therefore ask you to consider sending this clear message of humanism and understanding beyond the legitimate ideological differences that cannot and should not justify acting to the contrary. The people of Cuba and the countries we represent will recognize your historic gesture, Mr. President.

Cordially yours,