WASHINGTON: The Biden administration removed Cuba from its terrorism blacklist on Tuesday, while Cuba said it would release upward of 500 prisoners from its jails, dual announcements poised to reshape US-Cuba relations just days before Donald Trump takes office.

President Joe Biden’s announcements effectively roll back many of the sanctions put in place by President-elect Trump during his previous term ending in 2021. If they endure, they would represent the most significant advance in US-Cuba relations since the Obama-era detente.

Trump, a harsh Cuba critic who designated the island a state sponsor of terrorism — has not yet commented on the measures but has promised a hard line on the communist-run country.

He also nominated US Senator Marco Rubio, the son of immigrants from Cuba and an outspoken critic of the island’s government, as secretary of state. Biden’s announced plans — subject to the review of Congress, and the incoming Trump administration — would lift Trump’s 2021 designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, easing sanctions on an island already suffering a deep economic crisis.

They would also revoke a 2017 Trump order that restricted financial transactions with some military and government-linked Cuban entities, according to a senior administration official.

Biden also seeks to prevent individuals from filing lawsuits against both Cuban entities and foreign companies under the Helms-Burton Act over property seized following Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, the official said.

Just one hour after the US announcement, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said his government planned to “gradually” release 553 prisoners following talks with Pope Francis.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2025