A senior government official told CNN that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to make the appointment in the coming days. A second official confirmed that discussions are taking place, although the timing is uncertain.
The Cuban government has already denounced the measure, which is one of a series of bold initiatives that the Trump administration is taking in an attempt to leave a lasting mark on U.S. foreign policy with President Donald Trump just three weeks away from office.
Currently, only three other nations carry the designation of US terrorism: Iran, North Korea and Syria. Sudan was recently removed from the list as part of its agreement to normalize ties with Israel.
Such a designation would impose restrictions on US foreign assistance, a ban on defense exports and sales, certain export controls, and various financial restrictions. It would also result in a penalty against any people and countries that engage in certain commercial activities with Cuba.
The impetus to obtain the designation has waned in recent months, when one of the plan’s original advocates, Mauricio Claver-Carone – an aggressive Cuban-American lawyer – left the National Security Council to become president of the Inter-American Development Bank.
However, others within the administration, including Elliott Abrams, Trump’s special representative for Venezuela, and senior Western Hemisphere official, Michael Kozak, as well as Florida Republican senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, all supported following through on the idea – despite the lack of support from most of the State Department’s Cuban table, according to a former government official.
“Returning Cuba to the list of state sponsors of terrorism has been a goal of some in the Trump administration since January 20, 2017,” said John S. Kavulich, chairman of the US-Cuba Council on Trade and Economy. “The Trump administration has changed the definition of ‘terrorism’ to include a government’s behavior towards its citizens – it is no longer terrorism just about an explosion or bombing. The Trump administration connects Cuba with the FARC and with the governments of China, Iran, Russia, Syria and North Korea. “
‘Shelter and impunity’
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla “denounced” the expected designation, suggesting that his aim was “to please the anti-Cuban minority in Florida”.
“The United States grants shelter and impunity to terrorist groups working against Cuba in that territory,” wrote Rodriguez Parrilla on Twitter.
Since taking office, Trump has sought to reverse the Obama administration’s efforts to end the Cold War era’s hostilities with Cuba and help promote a new era of prosperity and growth for the country after decades of rule by the socialist Fidel Castro.
Trump’s government labeled Cuba as part of the so-called “Troika of Tyranny”, which included Venezuela and Nicaragua, and imposed blunt sanctions and other restrictions on the three countries in the name of combating socialism in the Western Hemisphere. A terrorism designation would likely appeal to Cuban Americans and other voters who helped lead Trump to victory in Florida, even though he lost the election.
Critics of the Trump administration’s policies toward Cuba and Venezuela believe that sanctions and other repressions have only caused more suffering for the people of those countries, although they have a limited impact on the regimes they target.
President-elect Joe Biden said during his campaign that, if elected, “it will promptly reverse Trump’s failed policies that inflicted damage on the Cuban people and did nothing to advance democracy and human rights.”
Patrick Oppmann of CNN contributed to this report.