US government re-designates Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Reuters.

The United States government has re-designated the communist nation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. Reuters. Cuba was removed from the list under Barack Obama, but the Trump administration has reversed much of Obama's policies on the communist country. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited Cuba's support of Venezuela's socialist government led by Nicholas Maduro as well as Cuba harboring fugitives and Columbian rebel leaders. The move is very popular among Cuban Americans, who have condemned the Castro regime. Should Biden be sworn in, it would be difficult to reverse the decision as it would take months of review. The move follows similar moves against the Houthi rebels in Yemen and normalizing relations with Taiwan.

My Comment:

This was long overdue. I never agreed with the normalization with Cuba. For one thing, they are a communist regime, which should forever bar them from the international community. Communism is a terrible ideology and should not even exist, let alone be tolerated. 

Is Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism though? I think so. Taking in American fugitives is not the action of a country that cares about justice but it's support of Columbian rebels and the Venezuela's communist government is what is really concerning. Cuba finances a lot of the bad parts of South and Central America and I do think they should be punished for it. 

Though the Cuban regime is different now under Raul Castro they are still brutal dictatorship that crushes all dissent. So they are not too unlike Democrats here in America. That being said it's fairly ridiculous to keep them off the list. That being said there are a lot of other countries that should be on that list based on their behavior but won't because they are either allies, like Saudi Arabia, or because they are too powerful to anger, like China. 

With this designation do much? Probably not. It will make travel to Cuba a lot more difficult and will help prevent Americans sending money to Cuba but other than that I don't see it doing much. This is more of a symbolic move than anything else. 

The good news is that if Joe Biden gets sworn in he won't be able to reverse this quickly. It will take months of review and Biden might not even want to do it considering how precarious his position is. He's already pissing off half the country, making all the Cuban Americans an enemy is a very bad idea. The restriction on Cuba should remain for the time being.