Republicans slam Obama for removing Cuba from terror list
Senior Republicans have denounced the Obama administration’s decision to remove Cuba from its list of “state sponsors of terrorism.”
"Today’s news is further evidence that President Obama seems more interested in capitulating to our adversaries than in confronting them," Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday.
Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner said the move has handed Cuba "a significant political win in return for nothing."
"The communist dictatorship has offered no assurances it will address its long record of repression and human rights abuses at home," the Ohio Republican said in a statement.
Boehner added that the move was “just the latest example of this administration focusing more on befriending our enemies than helping our allies.”
Cubans saw their nation’s designation on the US terror blacklist, in effect since 1982, as a practical hindrance to normalizing relations with the United States.
In a major policy reversal in December, President Barack Obama announced that he would work toward restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba after a 50-year estrangement.
Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American and outspoken critic of President Raul Castro, said Cuba should not have been removed from the list.
"Castro continues to provide a safe haven to terror groups like the Colombian FARC and Spanish ETA and harbors fugitives from American justice," she said, according to The Washington Times.
New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, who is also of Cuban descent, said the removal of Cuba from the terror list was a result of a "dangerous and misguided policy.”
Last week, American and Cuban diplomats met in Washington for a fourth round of talks, but discussions ended without an announcement on opening embassies in both countries’ capitals.
The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 and placed an official embargo against the country in 1962.
The US Congress has refused Obama's request to lift the longstanding embargo.
HRJ/HRJ
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