Biden looks to relax Cuba sanctions in final days before Trump
Biden's announced plans would lift Trump's 2021 designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism

U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Cuban American leaders in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 30, 2021.
reuters
Biden plans to reverse Trump-era Cuba sanctions, aims for political prisoner release
Cuba says it will release 553 prisoners after talks with Vatican
Biden's measures offer Cuba economic relief amid crisis
The Biden administration said on Tuesday it would remove Cuba from its terrorism blacklist, while Cuba said separately it would release upward of 500 prisoners from its jails, dual announcements poised to reshape U.S.-Cuba relations just days before Donald Trump takes office.
President Joe Biden's announcements effectively roll back many of the sanctions put in place by President-elect Trump during his previous term ending in 2021. If they endure, they would represent the most significant advance in U.S.-Cuba relations since the Obama-era detente.
Trump, a harsh Cuba critic who designated the island a state sponsor of terrorism - has not yet commented on the measures but has promised a hard line on the communist-run country. He also nominated U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, the son of immigrants from Cuba and an outspoken critic of the island's government, as secretary of state.
Biden's announced plans - subject to the review of Congress, and the incoming Trump administration - would lift Trump's 2021 designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, easing sanctions on an island already suffering a deep economic crisis.
They would also revoke a 2017 Trump order that restricted financial transactions with some military- and government-linked Cuban entities, according to a senior administration official.
Biden also seeks to prevent individuals from filing lawsuits against both Cuban entities and foreign companies under the Helms-Burton Act over property seized following Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, the official said.
A vintage car used for tourist city tours passes by the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, November 10, 2021. Photo taken on November 10, 2021. reuters
Prisoner release
Just one hour after the U.S. announcement, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced his government planned to "gradually" release 553 prisoners following talks with Pope Francis.
Cuba faced sharp criticism from rights groups, the United States and the European Union following the imprisonment of hundreds of protesters after riots on July 11, 2021, the largest since Castro's revolution.
It was not immediately clear whether the prisoners to be released had been detained following those protests.
A Cuban Foreign Ministry statement said the decision reflected the "humanitarian nature of the Cuban justice system" but did not tie the prisoner release to the Biden announcements.
Cuba's government called the breakthrough a step in the "right direction," but accused the U.S. of continued "economic warfare" against the island, warning that the measures could be quickly rolled back and that the Cold War-era U.S. trade embargo against Cuba remained.
Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, may seek to revive the sanctions overturned by Biden once in office.
Shortages of food, fuel, medicine and electricity in Cuba have stoked a record-breaking exodus off the island. At least 1 million Cubans have left by land and sea since 2020, many for the United States, where they contribute to the crisis at the U.S. border.
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