It Doesn’t Fit; Don’t FORCE It!
Published on June, 56 2023
At a June 25, 2023 march in Washington, DC, where over 500 solidarity activists demanded normalization of relations with Cuba, including an end to the US blockade and taking Cuba off the US List of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Photo credit: Bill Hackwell, used with permission.
by Leni Villagomez Reeves
Co-chair, Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issue Committee
July 2023
Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issue Committee Co-chair Cindy Domingo has described the campaign to remove Cuba from the US State Sponsors of Terrorism List in her excellent e-News article “Cuba Is Not a Terrorist Country”!
Former President Trump arbitrarily reinstated Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism less than a week after the January 6th attempted coup, reversing the Obama-Biden administration’s 2015 decision to remove this status after an exhaustive review by the U.S. State Department. Cuba does not satisfy any criteria for inclusion on this list. Cuba sponsors peace and health care, not terror.
This campaign, coordinated by the National Network on Cuba, of which WILPF-US is a member, sponsored a week of action in June with educational advocacy and a June 25 march and rally in Washington, DC, that drew over 500 activists. The central demand was that Biden keep his campaign promises to work toward normalizing relations with Cuba, and that he initiate the process of removing Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List.
In an attempt to prevent President Biden from doing this, Florida Republicans have introduced H.R.314, the FORCE Act. This proposed legislation in the US House of Representatives, currently controlled by Republicans, is designed to remove a particular executive power from a president of the other party; it is a partisan power-grab. The bill changes the process for removing, specifically and uniquely, Cuba from the US State Sponsors of Terrorism List in order to prevent the President and State Department from acting. The FORCE Act has also been introduced in the Senate by Republican Senators Rubio and Scott. If enacted, this bill would stop President Biden from making any effort toward normalizing relations with Cuba.
The unjust State Sponsor of Terrorism designation has no basis in fact and gravely increases the punitive restrictions on Cuban trade, finance, family remittances, and travel. Countries and potential business partners refrain from trading with Cuba for fear of angering the US or incurring penalties. The result has been severe shortages of food, medicine, spare parts, fuel, and all necessities in Cuba. This adds to the shortages that the Cuban people already experience due to the blockade. Even humanitarian aid is blocked by the restrictions involved in this designation, as detailed by the Washington Office for Latin America: “Fearful of being accused of abetting terror and the mammoth fines that an infraction entails, most banks refuse to process Cuban payments and have frozen funds for permitted religious and humanitarian activities…”
Please join us in urging your representatives in the House and Senate to VOTE NO on H.R.314/S.538, the FORCE Act. Please continue to urge President Biden to remove Cuba from the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. There is no reason Cuba should be on this list. The designation of “terrorist” would be absurd if the consequences were not so real and damaging.
Contact our issue committee co-chairs if you would like to attend our committee meetings and/or to involve your branch in the #OFFTHELIST Campaign:
Cindy Domingo, cindydomingo@gmail.com
Leni Villagomez Reeves, lenivreeves@gmail.com
