Cuban Americans in Congress make Kerry stay in his place Re: Cuba "terrorism" + Assata Shakur [View all]

[flamingdem]

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* Note: I think that Assata has been put on the Most Wanted List now because Cuba is about to release Alan Gross and the right wing Cuban Americans in congress need a bogey man to prevent any relaxation of US-Cuban relations. Looks like Kerry has capitulated on this

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There has been some confusion about the nature of this Country Report, with some analysts hoping that it might be used to take Cuba off the Department of State's list of four terrorist states, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria. The Associated Press article [below] has this clarifying paragraph:

"But [State Department spokesman Patrick] Ventrell said the annual report is never used to remove or add countries from the state sponsors list. Such decisions can be made at any time during the year, he said, but added that there are no plans to alter Cuba's status in the near future."

To make sure that Kerry stays in his place, three Cuban-American members of the House -- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fl), and Albio Sires (D-NJ) -- sent a letter to Kerry that was published in Capitol Hill's The Hill on April 30. It cites as one reason for keeping Cuba on the list: "offers sanctuary for fugitives from the U.S. (such as cop killer [sic] Joanne Chesimard)". (They insist on always calling Assata Shakur by her long-ago married name.)



The Miami Herald
Posted on Wed, May. 01, 2013
US keeps Cuba on state sponsors of terrorism list

By PAUL HAVEN
Associated Press

A State Department spokesman said Wednesday that Washington has no plans to remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism that also includes Iran, Syria and Sudan.That is sure to ruffle feathers in Havana, which vehemently denies any links to terrorism. Cuba's government contends its inclusion on the list is a political vendetta by a U.S. government that has kept an economic embargo on the Communist-run island for 51 years.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Washington "has no current plans to remove Cuba" from the list, which is included in the department's annual report on terrorism.

The report was supposed to have been released Tuesday, but has been delayed. Officials say it is likely to come out later in May.

Wednesday was a holiday in Cuba and there was no immediate comment from the government.

There had been speculation among analysts and others that the U.S. might use the report to take Cuba off the list and boost efforts to improve relations.

"It's a missed opportunity. There's no doubt about it," said Philip Peters, a longtime Cuba analyst based in Washington. "It would have been an important step. It would have removed an accusation that the whole world knows is false."