The Biden administration has notified Congress that it will remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in a deal that senior Biden officials said would help free political prisoners held by the country’s communist government.
The deal, which administration officials said was negotiated through the Catholic church, was announced on Tuesday, just five days before Biden exits the White House and Donald Trump is inaugurated as the country’s 47th president.
“An assessment has been completed and we do not have information that supports Cuba’s designation as being a state sponsor of terrorism,” a senior administration official briefed reporters on Tuesday.
“The Catholic church is significantly advancing an agreement with Cuba to undertake a set of actions that will allow for the humanitarian release of a significant number of political prisoners in Cuba and those who have been detained unjustly,” the official said.
