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 A refusal by Cuba to allow the United States to quickly establish
an official embassy for the first time in half a century could
complicate talks between the Cold War foes, reflecting enduring
mistrust as they move to end decades of confrontation.
Striking Cuba from the terrorism list could take until June or
longer, although the White House is pushing officials to move
quickly, said two U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the State
Department's review to take Cuba off the list.
Washington is eager to re-establish diplomatic ties before a
regional summit in Panama in April, when President Barack Obama will
meet Cuban leader Raul Castro for the first time since 2013, the
officials said.
The two leaders announced a historic deal on Dec. 17 to restore
relations. U.S. and Cuban diplomats will meet this month or in early
March in Washington for a second round of talks.
While renewing diplomatic relations could happen quickly, the
process to normalize, including removing the U.S. trade embargo,
will take far longer.
Cuba has not made removal from the list a condition for restoring
ties, U.S. officials said. But Havana made clear during the first
round of talks last month that it first wants to be removed from the
terrorism list.
GETTING OFF THE LIST
For Cuba, which considers its designation an injustice, getting
removed from the list would be a long-coveted propaganda victory at
home and abroad.
Washington placed Cuba on the list in 1982, citing then President
Fidel Castro's training and arming of Communist rebels in Africa and
Latin America. The list is short: just Iran, Sudan, Syria and Cuba.
But Cuba's presence on the list has been questioned in recent years.
The State Department's latest annual "Country Reports on Terrorism"
says Cuba has long provided a safe haven for members of the Basque
separatist group ETA and Colombia's left-wing FARC guerrillas.
But ETA, severely weakened by Spanish and French police, called a
ceasefire in 2011 and has pledged to disarm. And the FARC has been
in peace talks with the Colombian government for the past two years,
with Cuba as host.
Even the State Department acknowledged in its report that Cuba has
made progress. "There was no indication that the Cuban government
provided weapons or paramilitary training to terrorist groups," it
said.
Cuba raised this issue before January's talks in Havana. A senior
official from Cuba’s foreign ministry told reporters on Jan. 20 that
it was "unfair" to keep Cuba on the State Department's list.
"We cannot conceive of re-establishing diplomatic relations while
Cuba continues to be included on the list," the official told
reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It doesn't make any
sense that we re-establish diplomatic relations and Cuba continues
(on the list)."
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It is rare, though not unheard of, for the United States to remove
entities or countries from its list of terrorist supporters. One
entity which was removed following a lengthy and intense lobbying
campaign was the Mujahiddin e Khalq, a controversial and cult-like
Iranian group.
The designation also comes with economic sanctions, and can result
in fines for companies that do business with countries on the list,
such as a record $8.9 billion penalty that French bank BNP Paribas
paid last year for doing business with Sudan, Iran and Cuba.
As part of the U.S. shift in policy toward Cuba, the White House
ordered a State Department review of Cuba's listing as a state
sponsor of terrorism, the U.S. officials said.
A U.S. national security official said intelligence agencies were
under pressure from senior Obama administration officials to
complete their role in the removal process by March.
"The process is under way," said the official.
To finalize Cuba's removal, Obama would need to submit to Congress a
report stating Havana had not supported terrorism-related activities
for six months, and that Cuba has provided assurances that it will
not support terrorism in the future. Cuba would be automatically
dropped from the list 45 days later.
Getting the embassy open is also tricky.
Converting the six-story U.S. interests sections in Havana into a
full-fledged embassy after 53 years would require ending
restrictions on the number of U.S. personnel in Havana, limits on
diplomats' movements and appointing an ambassador. It would allow
the U.S. to renovate the building and have U.S. security posted
around the building, replacing Cuban police.
Cuba also wants the United States to scale back its support for
Cuban dissidents when the sides meet again. U.S. administration
officials have stood firm both publicly and privately that they
intend to keep supporting the dissidents.
"I can't imagine that we would go to the next stage of our
diplomatic relationship with an agreement not to see democracy
activists," U.S. negotiator Roberta Jacobson told a hearing chaired
by Sen. Marco Rubio, a vocal Republican opponent of Obama's new Cuba
policy.
(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball. Editing by Jason Szep and
Stuart Grudgings)
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