The White House will keep Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, despite admitting this week that both governments cooperate on issues related to the topic.
Amid strong criticism for removing the island on Wednesday from the list of "countries that do not fully cooperate with antiterrorist efforts," this Thursday the Deputy Spokesperson for the Department of State, Vedant Patel, said at a press briefing that further actions are still pending from the Caribbean nation.
"It is possible to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, but we still believe that there are actions being taken that support terrorist activities," explained Patel at a press conference.
However, the official did not specify the specific actions that Cuba should take to be removed from the list of countries that promote terrorism.
The island is included in that list that has generated several economic sanctions since 2021, as part of the latest decisions made by the Donald Trump Administration.
On Wednesday, the Joe Biden administration removed the island from the list of countries that "do not fully cooperate with counterterrorism efforts"; and immediately Havana asked Washington to go further and definitively remove it from the second list.
Both countries resumed police cooperation in 2023, including addressing the issue of terrorism. Therefore, the State Department argues that asserting that the island does not cooperate in these efforts "is no longer appropriate."
For some analysts, the exclusion from the first list seems to be an initial step to remove the Caribbean nation from the sponsors list.
On Thursday, the Cuban Foreign Ministry thanked several U.S. congressmen for their efforts in that regard.
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