Biden Administration Removal Of Cuba From List Of State Sponsors Of Terrorism Requires 45-Day Notice To United States Congress
/On 12 January 2021, the United States Department of State during the Trump Administration returned the Republic of Cuba to the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism.
If the Biden Administration had intended promptly to remove the Republic of Cuba from the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism, then the earliest date for rescission from Inauguration Day on 20 January 2021 would have been 6 March 2021 as this would mark forty-five (45) days before a rescission takes effect. No member of the United States Congress has reported receiving a required notification.
Part of the removal process includes a certification from the Biden Administration to leadership of the United States Congress that “the Government of Cuba has not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding 6-month period; and ... has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future.”
The Biden Administration has discretion as to when a six-month period commences. For example, the Biden Administration could certify the six-months commenced on 20 July 2020 and ended on 20 January 2021 or the six-month period commenced on 20 January 2021 and would end on 20 June 2021.
The Obama Administration when advising the United States Congress of its intention to remove the Republic of Cuba from the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism reported on 14 April 2015 that the six-month period commenced on 14 October 2014, prior to the announcement on 17 December 2014 that the United States would re-normalize diplomatic relations with the Republic of Cuba after nearing two years of secret discussions and then secret negotiations.
There are impediments for a removal of the Republic of Cuba from the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism. The Trump Administration expanded the definition of “terrorism” which both adds time for evaluation and complicates the evaluation process. The chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, The Honorable Robert Menendez (D- New Jersey) is of Cuban descent and all issues relating to the Republic of Cuba are personal- particularly the connectivity between a convicted murderer of a New Jersey State Police officer who escaped in 1979 from a correctional facility in New Jersey and resides in the Republic of Cuba.
Mrs. JoAnne Chesimard remains since 2 May 2013 as the first woman to be on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists List. There is a US$2 million reward. The Honorable Robert Mueller was Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 4 September 2001 to 4 September 2013. The Honorable Christopher Christie was Governor of the State of New Jersey from 19 January 2010 to 16 January 2018.
Senator Menendez was previously chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1 February 2013 to 3 January 2015 during the Obama Administration (2009-2017) when Mrs. Chesimard was added to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists List. The United States Secretary of State during the period 1 February 2013 to 20 January 2017 was The Honorable John Kerry (D- Massachusetts) who served as chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 6 January 2009 to 1 February 2013.
The Honorable Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State, was Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor from 20 January 2013 to 9 January 2015 and Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President from 20 January 2009 to 20 January 2013.
The Honorable Jake Sullivan, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, served as Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President of the United States from 26 February 2013 to 1 August 2014. Mr. Sullivan was Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State from 4 February 2011 to 15 February 2013.
Federal Register
Washington DC
22 January 2020
“DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice: 11332] Republic of Cuba Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST) In accordance with section 6(j)(1) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405(j)), and as continued in effect by Executive Order 13222 of August 17,2001, section 620A(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, Public Law 87–195, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2371(c)), and section 40(f) of the Arms Export Control Act, Public Law 90–629, as amended (22U.S.C. 2780(f), I hereby determine that the Republic of Cuba has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. This notice shall be published in the Federal Register. Dated: January 12, 2021. Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State. [FR Doc. 2021–01416 Filed 1–21–21; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4710–AD–P”
In 1987, the Export Administration Act (EAA) included the requirement for an annual list of state sponsors of terrorism by the United States Department of State (U.S. Code, Title 22, Sec. 2656f).
From Congressional Research Service (CRS): “In December 2014, the President announced he would proceed over the coming months to reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba and ease those diplomatic and economic restrictions he could, while anticipating Congress could engage in a review of sanctions codified in permanent law. At the same time, the President announced that the State Department had begun a review of Cuba’s designation on the state sponsors of terrorism list. On April 14, 2015, the President sent a message to Congress to certify that “the Government of Cuba has not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding 6-month period; and ... has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future.” This met the requirements of the statutes that form the terrorist lists; Cuba’s designation was removed on the 45th calendar day following the announcement (May 29, 2015), as the laws provide.”
“Removal from the Lists: Statutory Requirements. Each of the three statutes has some unique aspects to its construction, but all three have in common two possible paths for removing a foreign government from designation.”
“The first possible option is that the President certifies and reports to Congress that (i) there has been a fundamental change in the leadership and policies of the government of the country concerned; (ii) that government is not supporting acts of international terrorism; and iii) that government has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future. In the case of the ECA, the President notifies the Speaker of the House, Chairpersons of the House Committees on Foreign Affairs, and on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Chairpersons of the Senate Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and on Foreign Relations that such changes have occurred. The FAA’61 and AECA require the President to notify only the Speaker and the Foreign Relations Committee Chairperson.”
“The second possible option the statutes offer is that the President, 45 days before a rescission takes effect, certifies to congressional leadership (as identified in the first option) that (i) the government concerned has not provided any support for acts of international terrorism during the preceding 6-month period; and (ii) the government concerned has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future. There is no reporting requirement to notify Congress that the clock has started ticking on the six-month period of changed behavior of the designated government. In past instances of delisting a foreign government, the Secretary of State has published a notice that the designation is under review, but the law does not require this advance notice beyond the 45-day requirement prior to issuing a rescission.”
U.S. Announces Designation of Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism
Press Statement
Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State
January 11, 2021
“The State Department has designated Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism for repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbor to terrorists.
The Trump Administration has been focused from the start on denying the Castro regime the resources it uses to oppress its people at home, and countering its malign interference in Venezuela and the rest of the Western Hemisphere.
With this action, we will once again hold Cuba’s government accountable and send a clear message: the Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and subversion of U.S. justice.
For decades, the Cuban government has fed, housed, and provided medical care for murderers, bombmakers, and hijackers, while many Cubans go hungry, homeless, and without basic medicine. Members of the National Liberation Army (ELN), a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, traveled to Havana to conduct peace talks with the Colombian government in 2017. Citing peace negotiation protocols, Cuba has refused Colombia’s requests to extradite ten ELN leaders living in Havana after the group claimed responsibility for the January 2019 bombing of a Bogota police academy that killed 22 people and injured more than 87 others.
Cuba also harbors several U.S. fugitives from justice wanted on or convicted of charges of political violence, many of whom have resided in Cuba for decades. For example, the Cuban regime has refused to return Joanne Chesimard, on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List for executing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973; Ishmael LaBeet, convicted of killing eight people in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1972; Charles Lee Hill, charged with killing New Mexico state policeman Robert Rosenbloom in 1971; and others.
Cuba returns to the SST list following its broken commitment to stop supporting terrorism as a condition of its removal by the previous administration in 2015. On May 13, 2020, the State Department notified Congress that it had certified Cuba under Section 40A(a) of the Arms Export Control Act as “not cooperating fully” with U.S. counterterrorism efforts in 2019.
In addition to the support for international terrorism that is the basis for today’s action, the Cuban regime engages in a range of malign behavior across the region. The Cuban intelligence and security apparatus has infiltrated Venezuela’s security and military forces, assisting Nicholas Maduro to maintain his stranglehold over his people while allowing terrorist organizations to operate. The Cuban government’s support for FARC dissidents and the ELN continues beyond Cuba’s borders as well, and the regime’s support of Maduro has created a permissive environment for international terrorists to live and thrive within Venezuela.
Today’s designation subjects Cuba to sanctions that penalize persons and countries engaging in certain trade with Cuba, restricts U.S. foreign assistance, bans defense exports and sales, and imposes certain controls on exports of dual use items.
The United States will continue to support the Cuban people in their desire for a democratic government and respect for human rights, including freedom of religion, expression, and association. Until these rights and freedoms are respected, we will continue to hold the regime accountable.”
