Official - Review of Cuba as terror sponsor in 'final stages'

Official: Review of Cuba as terror sponsor in 'final stages'
BY JIM KUHNHENN ASSOCIATED PRESS
04/07/2015 5:15 PM 04/07/2015 5:15 PM

WASHINGTON
White House officials left open the possibility Tuesday that President
Obama could recommend Cuba's removal from a list of state sponsors of
terror around the time of the Summit of the Americas later this week in
Panama. The officials also sought to soften tensions with Venezuela that
threatened to overshadow the summit.

Deputy National Security adviser Benjamin Rhodes said the State
Department's review of Cuba's place on that terror list is in "its final
stages." While he said the timing is in the hands of Secretary of State
John Kerry, he would not rule out an Obama announcement during the
two-day summit in Panama City.

Removing Cuba from the terror list would be one of the biggest
developments since Dec. 17, when Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro
announced they would seek to re-establish diplomatic relations after
half a century of antagonism. But Rhodes cautioned that the actual
opening of embassies in Havana and in Washington by both countries was
still some time off.

"When you have two countries that haven't spoken to each other like this
over 50 years, you have lot off issues to work through," Rhodes said in
a call previewing Obama's trip to Jamaica and then to the summit in
Panama. Obama leaves for the Caribbean on Wednesday.

Among the issues that have slowed the diplomatic efforts have been
Cuba's presence on the terror list and U.S. demands that U.S. diplomats
be able to interact with the Cuban people without limitations.

The normalization of relations with Cuba was to be one of the
centerpieces of the summit Friday and Saturday in Panama city. The U.S.
has repeatedly objected to Cuba's participation in the periodic assembly
of leaders from the Americas. But the U.S. dropped its opposition this year.

Instead, the Obama administration has aimed its indignation at Venezuela
over President Nicolas Maduro's crackdown on dissent and his
imprisonment of political opponents. Seeking to put pressure on Maduro,
Obama signed an executive order slapping sanctions on seven Venezuelans.

Maduro and his allies in the region, including Ecuadoran President
Rafael Correa, have characterized the sanctions as an act of aggression,
citing language in the Obama executive order that describes Venezuela as
a threat to U.S. security.

Rhodes sought to tamp down the furor, noting that the language is
boilerplate used in executive orders that impose sanctions around the world.

"The U.S. doesn't believe that Venezuela poses some threat to national
security," Rhodes said. The action, Rhodes said, "was not of a scale
that in any way was aimed at targeting the Venezuelan government broadly."

Ricardo Zuniga, the National Security Council's senior director of
Western Hemisphere Affairs, said that given that the U.S. is Venezuela's
largest trading partner and that both countries share family
connections, the U.S. is interested in Venezuela's success. He said the
U.S. supports efforts by some South American governments to promote a
political resolution to internal disputes in Venezuela.

But he also noted regional concerns over Venezuela's economy crisis and
its impact on countries that relied on Venezuelan oil assistance.

"We don't have any hostile designs on Venezuela," he said.

In Panama, President Juan Carlos Varela, the summit host, predicted that
tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela would be unlikely to dominate
the summit in light of Obama's decision to restore diplomatic ties with
Cuba.

"The summit isn't about the bilateral relationship between the United
States and Venezuela," Varela said in an interview. "The emphasis on
Cuba is different because it's the first time Cuba participates in the
Summit of the Americas, so that's huge for us."

Source: Official: Review of Cuba as terror sponsor in 'final stages' |
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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article17623520.html