by Dave DeCamp
The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it will remove Cuba from the “state sponsor of terrorism” list, a move that will likely be reversed by the incoming Trump administration.
According to US officials, the move is the result of a deal brokered by the Catholic Church that will see Cuba release political prisoners. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced Tuesday that Cuba will free 553 people and said that he informed Pope Francis.
Removing Cuba from the list will ease sanctions slightly, though the country remains under a decades-old trade embargo. “This decision puts an end to specific coercive measures which, together with many others, seriously damage the Cuban economy and have a severe impact on the population,” the Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a statement.