Cuba - How it was added to the list of countries that sponsor terrorism

Cuba: How it was added to the list of countries that sponsor terrorism
NORA GÁMEZ TORRES NGAMEZTORRES@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM
04/18/2015 8:17 PM 04/18/2015 8:55 PM

While a new battle line between the White House and Congress emerges
with President Barack Obama's request to remove Cuba from the list of
countries that sponsor terrorism, the issue raises the question: just
how did Cuba get blacklisted?

The story goes back to 1981, to the presidency of Ronald Reagan and the
Cold War. A few weeks after his inauguration in March of that year, the
National Security Council began debating over how to respond to the
civil war in El Salvador. Reagan was determined to stop the Soviet
influence in the area promoted by the Cubans.

Secretary of State at the time, Alexander Haig, advocated "going to the
source" and invade Cuba, which was giving aid and weapons to the
guerrillas in El Salvador, though the proposal was not supported,
according to a detailed account in the book Back Channel to Cuba, The
Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana, authored
by Peter Kornbluh and William LeoGrande.

From declassified documents, interviews with former officials,
newspaper articles and memoirs, the authors document the political
conflicts and secret negotiations between the United States and Cuba for
five decades, including those that precipitated the inclusion of Cuba on
the list of nations that sponsor terrorism.

Although direct invasion was ruled out at that time, Haig tried to
pressure Fidel Castro with the threat of military action to get Cuba to
desist from supporting the guerrillas in Central America.

Toward the end of 1981 and the deterioration of the armed conflict in El
Salvador, the U.S. tightened the embargo, the granting of visas to Cuban
officials and announced plans to create Radio Martí. The Pentagon also
developed a plan of progressive sanctions against Cuba, with the aim of
discouraging the Cuban government to intervene in the area.

Castro responded with "the war of the entire population."

"It was precisely in the midst of threats and growing danger when we
started to think, (...) we truly reached new and revolutionary concepts
of defense; that's how it went from the old conception of military
defense of the country — in the field of battle and all that secures and
supports the combat in any variant of aggression —...to a conception of
the defense of the country as a joint task of the Armed Forces and of
all the people and, therefore, all the people should be organized and
prepared for this fight," Castro said retrospectively in a speech in 1984.

However, despite the rhetoric of intransigence within the island, the
Cuban government sent private messages about their interest in
participating in a possible "peaceful solution" to the conflict and said
it had suspended the supply of arms to the guerrillas in El Salvador and
the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, but a series of secret diplomatic talks
proved equally futile.

With mediation from Mexican President José López Portillo, who had
already met privately with Castro in Cozumel, Mexican Vice President
Carlos Rafael Rodriguez had a secret meeting with Haig in November 1981
at the home of Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda in Mexico City.
Rodriguez announced Cuba's support for an agreement in El Salvador, if
it was endorsed by the guerrillas. Meanwhile, Haig requested a complete
cessation of support by Cuba for the guerrillas and its withdrawal from
Africa, points at which the Cubans were unwilling to budge. Nor did they
agree to end their "friendship" with the Soviet Union.

In January 1982, President Reagan declared in his State of the Union
address: "Toward those who would export terrorism and subversion in the
Caribbean and elsewhere, especially Cuba and Libya, we will act with
firmness."

Subsequently, in March of that year and after the call for another round
of negotiations to be conducted again by Mexican President Portillo —
who warned in a speech that direct U.S. military intervention would be a
"gigantic historic error" — President Reagan sent Special Ambassador
Vernon Walters on a secret mission to meet with Fidel and tell him the
U.S. wanted Cuba out of Central America or else they would have to face
the consequences. The "consequence" was Cuba's inclusion in the list of
state sponsors of terrorism, said Kornbluh, director of the
documentation project on Cuba at the National Security Archive.

"The discussions with Walters were very difficult," Rodriguez told Miami
Herald reporter, Alfonso Chardy, a year later at his office in Havana.
"The problem was not that they were tough; they were very interesting,
filled with anecdotes ... but Walters had not come to...negotiate but to
explore Cuban positions over various problems, test the atmosphere, see
Fidel personally."

According to the reporter, Rodriguez complained that Walters constantly
interrupted Fidel Castro.

Effective March 1, 1982, the State Department included Cuba on the list
of countries supporting terrorism, while Iraq was removed. Months later,
a CIA report concluded that "Cuba's repeated offers to negotiate in
Central America are an effort to gain time and obtain a propaganda
advantage."

"The addition of Cuba was not considered significant at the time since
the United States already had comprehensive economic sanctions on Cuba
dating back to the early 1960s; as a result, the economic sanctions
associated with being added to the terrorism list would have had no
practical significance," states an investigative report on the subject
submitted to Congress in 2005.

"By removing Cuba from the list, the Obama administration has not only
opened the door to normal diplomatic relations but has finally regained
some of the credibility of the list itself. Cuba never adjusted to the
definition of a state that supports international terrorism," Kornbluh
told el Nuevo Herald.

Critics of the move, such as presidential candidate Marco Rubio, have
harsh words for the White House.

"The decision made by the White House... is a terrible one, but not
surprising unfortunately," Rubio said in a statement. "Cuba is a state
sponsor of terrorism. They harbor fugitives of American justice,
including someone who killed a police officer in New Jersey over 30
years ago. It's also the country that's helping North Korea evade
weapons sanctions by the United Nations. They should have remained on
the list of state sponsors of terrorism, and I think it sends a chilling
message to our enemies abroad that this White House is no longer serious
about calling terrorism by its proper name."

North Korea was removed from the list in 2008, by President George W.
Bush. The three countries that remain in the list are Iran, Sudan and Syria.

Follow Nora Gámez Torres on Twitter @ngameztorres

SUMMARY: CUBA AND THE LIST OF TERRORIST NATIONS

▪ The meeting between Barack Obama and Raúl Castro at the recent Summit
of the Americas should have sealed the deal to remove Cuba from the list
of countries that sponsor terrorism, a determination the president
recently made and reported to Congress.

▪ As of December 17, the day of the historic announcement of restoring
diplomatic ties, the State Department began an investigation to
determine whether Cuba 1). was providing support to international
terrorist organizations in the past six months and 2). could do so in
the future.

▪ A senior State Department official reported that Cuba had given
assurances, "a relatively wide range and high level" that it "will not
support acts of terrorism in the future." The Cubans, for its part,
agreed to negotiate with the United States the issue of fugitives
seeking refuge on the island, including Joanne Chesimard (aka Assata
Shakur) and William Morales.

▪ Josefina Vidal, Director General for the United States at Cuba's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "The government of Cuba recognizes the just
decision taken by the U.S. President to eliminate Cuba from a list in
which it should have never been included."

▪ Secretary of State John Kerry: "Circumstances have changed since 1982,
when Cuba was included for its efforts to promote armed revolution in
Latin America. Our hemisphere, and the world is very different from what
it was 33 years ago. "

▪ Congress now has 45 days to accept or pass a joint resolution to block
Obama's decision, for which requires a majority vote. The president can
veto the resolution and Congress, in turn, may appeal the veto.

Source: Cuba: How it was added to the list of countries that sponsor
terrorism | Miami Herald Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article18886467.html