U.S. might soon remove Cuba from terrorism list

U.S. might soon remove Cuba from terrorism list
BY NORA GÁMEZ TORRES NGAMEZTORRES@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM
04/01/2015 9:06 PM 04/01/2015 9:49 PM

NEW YORK
The elimination of Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor
terrorism "could occur in the near future," Stefan M. Selig, the United
States' Assistant Secretary of International Commerce said on Wednesday.

Cuba "must be eliminated from that list because the world has changed
since the time in which they were included. It's consistent with the
politics of President Barack Obama," Selig said during a news conference
at NASDAQ headquarters in New York.

During his participation in a Cuba conference, organized by
Knowledge@Wharton, a publication of the Wharton School of Business at
the University of Pennsylvania, Selig defended the normalization of
relations with Cuba as a "strategic decision" that favors the Cuban
people and pointed out that "lifting the embargo is what's correct."

On the other hand, Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State for
the Western Hemisphere, said that review of Cuba's inclusion on the
terrorism list is "advanced" but cleared up "that there's no conclusions
and we can't prejudge its results."

Jacobson summarizes the state of the negotiations. "I know it appears as
if we haven't achieved anything but after 50 years of distrust, we've
made a lot of progress," she said. "Publicly, much movement won't be
seen until we open an embassy."

Jacobson said among the reasons slowing negotiations to reopen the U.S.
embassy in Havana is the level of access for Cuban and American citizens.

"An embassy is an embassy," she said. "I can't say it's going to be the
same as the one we have in London but it's going to be as close to the
ones we have in Russia and China as possible."

The diplomat said that the declaration of Venezuela as a national
security threat to the United States "created some background noise, but
hasn't had a major impact on negotiations in Cuba." She also mentioned
that conversations about human rights "will probably be the hardest" and
stated some topics of disagreement:

"There's still many short-term, arbitrary detentions taking place. Cuba
is in the process of an electoral reform but we don't see any indication
that they will allow a multi-partisan democracy to occur," Jacobson
said. "People can't exercise freedom of expression or association. Cuba
thinks that it's meddling on our part but we believe those are
international obligations."

Meanwhile, Cuba "criticized several U.S. affairs. Our response hasn't
been defensive, we are the first ones to recognize our errors and know
that Americans should be the first to criticize them; that's why our
system is so good," she added.

Maria Contreras-Sweet, head of the government's Small Business
Administration, called on the entrepreneurial community to "take this
opportunity to be a force of change, a positive force" for the
development of a "free Cuba."

"Don't wait for embassies to open or for the government to organize
official business delegations," she said. "We want the business
community to lead this process."

Follow Nora Gamez on Twitter @ngameztorres

Source: U.S. might soon remove Cuba from terrorism list | Miami Herald
Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article17162459.html