Pressure on Biden to Remove Cuba From Terror List
July 26, 2022
If anything, it is Cuba that has been the victim of international terrorism emanating mainly from the U.S., write Medea Benjamin and Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan.
By Medea Benjamin and Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan
As the Cuban government celebrates the July 26 Day of the National Rebellion — a public holiday commemorating the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks that is considered the precursor to the 1959 revolution — U.S. groups are calling on the Biden administration to end cruel sanctions that are creating such hardship for the Cuban people. In particular, they are pushing President Joe Biden to take Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Being on this list subjects Cuba to a series of devastating international financial restrictions. It is illegal for U.S. banks to process transactions to Cuba, but U.S. sanctions also have an unlawful extraterritorial reach. Fearful of getting in the crosshairs of U.S. regulations, most Western banks have also stopped processing transactions involving Cuba or have implemented new layers of compliance. This has hampered everything from imports to humanitarian aid to development assistance, and has sparked a new European campaign to challenge their banks’ compliance with U.S. sanctions.
These banking restrictions and Trump-era sanctions, together with the economic fallout from Covid-19, have led to a severe humanitarian and economic crisis for the very Cuban people the administration claims to support. They are also a major cause of the recent increase in migration of Cubans that has become a major political liability for the Biden administration.
At the beginning of Biden’s presidency, he said that Cuba’s designation on this list was under review. Eighteen months later, with the administration obviously more concerned about Florida politics than the welfare of the Cuban people, the results of this review have still not been revealed. Cuba remains on the list, with no justification and despite Biden hailing diplomacy — not escalation of tension and conflict — as his administration’s preferred path.
More:
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/07/26/pressure-on-biden-to-remove-cuba-from-terror-list/
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I contribute to Code Pink and Pastors for Peace regularly as possible. Ms Benjamin is an outstanding advocate for the Cuban people.
Of course they are both despised by the right-wing and everyone who has swallowed the propaganda. I admire them both, so much, as well.
Medea Benjamin has devoted her entire life to seeking humane treatment for politically devastated poor people all over the world. It's hard to believe she has a moment's rest, so totally involved. She has touched so many lives.
Some may well remember Medea Benjamin and Code Pink, during George W. Bush's stolen Presidency, when they could be seen and heard protesting during congression hearings! Bless them all.
Thank you, Marcus IM! 