State Department considers designating Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, source says

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The government of Cuba could be added to the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism, if Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signs on to a State Department proposal as the Trump administration winds down.

A source familiar with the discussions confirms senior State Department officials are considering the designation, which, days ahead of the next administration, would move the U.S. even further from the Obama-era reconciliation with Havana. A designation would trigger automatic sanctions against Cuba’s government and add it to a list including North Korea, Iran and Syria as the only nations the U.S. has designated as state sponsors of terrorism.

It was not immediately clear whether Pompeo intended to implement the proposal, reported earlier in The New York Times.

In this Nov. 24 photo, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to the media prior to meeting with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah at the State Department in Washington. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP, File)

A State Department spokesperson said the department does not "discuss deliberations or potential deliberations" about the designation process.

The penalties for appearing on the state sponsors of terrorism list include strict international sanctions and limits on U.S. foreign aid.

TRUMP IMPLEMENTS NEW TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS TO CUBA, BANS PURCHASE OF RUM AND TOBACCO

The Reagan administration initially placed Cuba on the list in the early 1980s. It remained there until 2015, when the Obama administration normalized relations after decades of Communist control.

The State Department announced this past May that Cuba was among five countries that failed to fully cooperate with U.S. counterterrorism efforts. The other four were the three on the state sponsor list and Venezuela.

State Department officials said Cuba refused to extradite 10 suspects wanted in Colombia for a police academy bombing that killed 22 people and injured dozens more. Authorities also accused Cuba of harboring multiple American fugitives, including Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur. She was convicted of killing New Jersey state Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973.

But, Ben Rhodes, an Obama-era deputy national security adviser, told the Times that the accusations were "complete nonsense."

"Cuba is not a state sponsor of terrorism," he told the paper.

President-elect Joe Biden, who served as vice president in the Obama administration, has criticized President Trump’s approach to the country as "failed." He told Americas Quarterly earlier this year that Trump’s diplomacy there has "inflicted harm" on everyday Cubans without pushing their government to advance "democracy and human rights."

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Over the past few months, the Trump administration has implemented new travel restrictions on Cuba and banned purchases of rum and tobacco.

Many Cuban-Americans have been critical of the country’s authoritarian regime, and could be partly responsible for President Trump’s strong showing among Hispanic voters in the state of Florida during the November election.