A Chinese-flagged ship called Da Dan Xia is moored off Cartagena, Colombia, on March 5, 2015, after being detained by Colombian authorities who found…
Politics: President Obama removed Cuba as a state sponsor of terror Friday, forgetting the dictatorship’s long record of killing, smuggling and, yes, terror. If this is the new standard, why not just scrap the list entirely?
The lifting of Cuba from the list of nations that support terrorism was a farce that may well come back to the haunt the United States.
After all, the ruling Castro regime that benefits from it in the name of normal relations with the U.S. and new access to World Bank loans is the same regime that once tried the first 9/11, aligning itself with a terrorist group in 1962 to bomb New York subways under department stores on the day after Thanksgiving to ensure maximum casualties. J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI foiled it.
That was then. More than fifty years on, the same dictator and his brother have pretty much been told that that was then, and what matters is now.
Taking Cuba off the terror list “reflects our assessment that Cuba meets the statutory criteria for rescission,” a State Department spokesman said. “While the United States has significant concerns and disagreements with a wide range of Cuba’s policies and actions, these fall outside the criteria relevant to the rescission of a State Sponsor of Terrorism designation.”
But even that narrow definition — which by the way only covers refraining from terror for a period of six months — doesn’t stand well in the face of facts.
There’s zero doubt Cuba has sponsored terror in the past, aligning with urban guerrillas in the hemisphere and leading guerrilla wars in Africa, which it denies was ever terrorism but in any case isn’t doing now.
But it’s only a change in tactics, not intentions. It remains the same communist “revolutionary” state that rules by terror at home and foments violence abroad. Its methods have simply gotten more subtle and updated.
Just last Feb. 28, Colombian officials nabbed a Cuba-bound Chinese ship, the Dan Da Xia, loaded with illegally concealed weapons perfect for terrorist warfare, including 100 tons of explosives, 2.6 million detonators, 99 projectiles and 3,000 artillery shells.
Colombia’s military, which is often at odds with its president, initially stated they believed they were weapons bound for the FARC terrorist group, with which Cuba has had longtime ties. Cuba has been mediating peace talks between FARC and Colombia in Havana.
Colombia’s president wants a peace deal for his own legacy purposes, so his government isn’t saying much. But it’s clear evidence of something wrong and answers are warranted before Cuba is taken off the terrorist list.
