|
 President Barack Obama had said on April 14 he would drop the
former Cold War rival from the list, initiating a 45-day review
period for Congress that expired on Friday.
Obama ordered a review of Cuba's status on the terrorism list as
part of a landmark policy shift on Dec. 17, when he and Cuban
President Raul Castro announced they would seek to restore
diplomatic relations that Washington severed in 1961, and work
toward a broad normalization of ties.
Removal from the list is more symbolic than of practical
significance.
It ends a prohibition on U.S. economic aid, a ban on U.S. arms
exports, controls on "dual-use" items with military and civilian
applications, and a requirement that the United States oppose loans
to Cuba by international financial institutions such as the World
Bank and International Monetary Fund.
But those bans remain in place under other, overlapping U.S.
sanctions, since Cuba is still subject to a wider U.S. economic
embargo that has been in place since the early 1960s.
 "As a practical matter, most restrictions related to exports and
foreign aid will remain due to the comprehensive trade and arms
embargo," said a U.S. official on condition of anonymity.
The official said Cuba's removal might make private companies and
banks more open to doing authorized business with Cuba.
Cuba had cited its designation as a state terrorism sponsor as an
obstacle to re-establishing diplomatic relations and upgrading their
so-called interests sections in Havana and Washington into
full-blown embassies.
The two sides have held four rounds of high-level negotiations since
December and say they are closing in on a deal to reopen the
embassies. The State Department must give the U.S. Congress a 15-day
notice before opening an embassy.
Washington put Cuba on its terrorism blacklist in 1982, when Havana
supported armed guerrilla movements in Latin America.
That support ended with the 1991 collapse of Cuba's close trade and
aid benefactor, the Soviet Union, but Cuba stayed on the U.S. list.
Only Iran, Syria and Sudan now remain on it.
WIDER RAPPROCHEMENT
The December announcement by Obama and Castro sought to end decades
of animosity between the United States and Cuba that followed the
1959 Cuban Revolution, when rebels led by Fidel and Raul Castro
toppled U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. Relations soured
quickly as Havana confiscated U.S. property and drew close to the
Soviet Union.
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Flashpoints included a failed U.S.-backed invasion of Cuba by Cuban
exiles in 1961 and the basing of Soviet missiles on the island, only
90 miles (145 km) south of Florida, that nearly triggered a nuclear
war in 1962.
Obama, a Democrat, has asked the Republican-controlled Congress to
lift the 53-year-old U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, but the
Republican leadership in Congress has resisted calls to remove what
has been a pillar of U.S. foreign policy under nine previous
presidents.
Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and
potential presidential candidate Jeb Bush criticized the White
House's removal of Cuba from the terrorism list, accusing it of
making concessions without demanding that Havana improve its human
rights.
"President Obama seems more interested in capitulating to our
adversaries than in confronting them," Bush said, calling the move
"a mistake" and urging congressional pressure on Cuba.
Congress also is considering an end to the U.S. travel ban. Obama
has eased restrictions on Americans making authorized trips to Cuba,
but general tourism to the Caribbean island remains illegal.
Two major obstacles to normal overall ties are the embargo and the
U.S. naval base at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay, which the United States
has leased since 1903. Cuba wants the 45 square mile (116 square km)
area returned as its full sovereign territory.
Raul Castro, 83, took over as president in 2008 after ill health
forced his older brother Fidel, now 88, to step aside.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Havana and Arshad Mohammed in
Washington; Editing by Bill Trott and Frances Kerry)
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