THE Guyana Cuba Solidarity Movement (GCSM) has lauded the move by the U.S. Government to formally drop Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.The U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry signed the final order to rescind Cuba’s State Sponsor of Terrorism designation, effective May 29, 2015.
President of the Guyana Cuba Solidarity Movement (GCSM), Haleem Khan, who hails the move as visionary said after 54 years of isolation, Cuba’s removal from the list takes away one of the largest impediments to normalisation talks between Cuba and the U.S. The talks have been going on since President Obama and Cuban President, Raúl Castro announced in December that the two countries would end their diplomatic isolation.
He explained that while the United States has significant concerns and disagreements with a wide range of Cuba’s policies and actions, these fall outside the criteria relevant to the rescission of a State Sponsor of Terrorism designation.
Underscoring the benefits of Cuba’s omission from the list, Khan said the most immediate change could be the use of American-issued credit and debit cards in Cuba.
“The new rules published in January allowed for such transactions for the first time, and American Express and MasterCard have announced that they would allow their cards to be used on the island…
This is going to open the door to more banking, more credit-card processing.”
Cuba’s removal also means it will have more access to global financial markets and loans from international organisations such as the World Bank.
While the U.S. maintains its economic embargo on Cuba, which can only be changed by an act of Congress, new rules published by the Obama Administration in January allowed some financial openings.
U.S President Obama, a Democrat, has asked the Republican-controlled Congress to lift the decades-old U.S. economic embargo against Cuba. Cuba had cited its designation as a state terrorism sponsor as an obstacle to re-establishing diplomatic relations and upgrading their so-called interests sections in Havana and Washington into full-fledged embassies.
Supporters of Obama’s policy of direct engagement with Cuba hailed the recent move as another step in the long process toward improving the condition of Cubans caught in the political crossfire between Washington and Havana.
Khan emphasised that the Cuban Government and nation are living in peace and harmony. Cuba is a source of inspiration in several areas for the world to see, particularly in medicine and sports.