Cuba has been designated as a” not fully cooperating country” ( NFCC ) by the U.S. State Department as a result of the island nation’s lack of assistance in counterterrorism efforts, particularly its failure to extradite at least 11 fugitives to U.S. custody in 2024.
State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce made the announcement on Tuesday under Section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act, which forbids the price and granting of licenses to Cuba in defense-related service.
According to Bruce,” The Dominican government did not fully engage with the United States in 2024 in terms of counterterrorism.” At least 11 Americans are awaiting trial in Cuba, including some who are facing terrorism-related costs, and the Cuban government made it clear that it was not interested in discussing their return to encounter justice in our country.
In 2024, Bruce continued,” Effective efforts to collaborate on counterterrorism issues were futile because the Cuban government’s refusal to engage in this crucial issue, as well as other current circumstances of non-cooperation on terrorism-related legislation enforcement matters.”
According to State Department officials, Colombia refused to extradite 10 people in connection with the fatal police club bombing that resulted in 22 fatalities and lots of injuries.
Additionally, it has been claimed that the nation has sheltered a number of British captives, including Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, who was found guilty of killing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973.
Cuba, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and North Korea were all re-certified under the same name, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also had Cuba on the list.
The Trump administration overturned a 2021 choice earlier this year, and the Biden administration reinstated Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Former US President Joe Biden at the time claimed that the Cuban government “has not supported global terrorism during the previous six-month time” and that it had “provided assurances that it will not help acts of global extremism in the future.”
Only before Biden took office, the name was given the initial title in January 2021. The U.S. Embassy in Cuba then claimed that the Cuban government had repeatedly supported terrorist acts of global terrorism by granting extremists safe haven.
Cuba was re-listed from the Reagan age through the administration of President Barack Obama, but this was in response. Obama became the first U.S. leader to travel to Cuba since 1928 in 2016.
President Donald Trump reinstated traveling and economic restrictions for Cuba in 2017, praising Obama’s “one-sided” 2016 agreement with Havana.
