Cuba on the U.S. List of State Sponsors of Terrorism

Links to State Department Reports on the U.S. List of State Sponsors of Terrorism

2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1995-1999

CIP's Conferences, Delegations, and Publications regarding Cuba's unwarranted inclusion on the list

January 28, 2010 Conference: To Examine Cuba's Inclusion on the List of Terrorist States

January 2010 IPB: Cuba Should Not Be On the Terrorist List

November 2004 IPR: Cuba Should Not Be On the Terrorist List

October 21, 2004: Conference to Weigh the Evidence to Keep Cuba on the U.S. List of State Sponsors of Terrorism (Summary) (Photographs) (Paper by Robert Muse) (Paper by Glenn Baker)

CIP Center for Defense Information (CDI) delegation: Fact-finding mission

November 2002 IPR: Cuba on the Terrorist List: In Defense of the Nation or Domestic Political Calculation?

History of The US List of State Sponsors of Terrorism

Since 1979, the United States has maintained a list of states that are believed to sponsor terrorism. Until September 11th the list had little relevance, but it served as a foreign policy tool by imposing economic sanctions on listed countries.

'Cuba against Terrorism & War'

However, the US "terrorism list" has no set of criteria for inclusion or removal from the list. The countries currently on the list (Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria and Libya) have vastly varying raps. For years, the State Department has downgraded Cuba without ever removing it from the list. Taliban-controlled Afghanistan received several million dollars in counter-narcotics aid from the US, even while it was host to Osama bin Ladin and his terrorist training camp. Afghanistan was never added to the terrorist list.

On May 21, 2002, the State Department published a new list of "terrorist states" with a revamped argument against Cuba. It acknowledges that Cuba has signed all 12 UN counter-terrorism conventions, but complains that Castro criticized "the US-led war on terrorism" and has "vacillated" with respect to the global effort against terrorism. The report also claims that Cuba supports Colombian, Spanish and Chilean rebels, but neglects evidence to the contrary.

Another U.S. complaint is that Cuba continues to harbor U.S. fugitives, but the report does not account for fugitives from Cuban justice living in the U.S. and an inoperative U.S.-Cuban extradition treaty. Though it strains and exaggerates, the report actually offers no evidence that Cuba is involved in terrorist activities.

Additional Reading:

Anti-Terrorism Working Group

Council on Foreign Relations

No evidence Cuba working on bioweapons, expert says

U.S. uncertain about a Cuba weapons program

Cuba signs nonproliferation treaty

Is Cuba a biowar threat or not?

Carter, Powell on Cuba and bioweapons

Cuba seeks deal with U.S.: fight terror, migrant smuggling, drugsWhere can terrorist find safe harbor?

"If you're of the Cuban exile variety, right here"