Obama: Cuba hasn't supported terrorism in, like, six months. So they're off the list.

"The Cuban government recognizes the fair decision made by the president of the United States to eliminate Cuba from a list that it never should have been included on," Josefina Vidal, the Cuban foreign ministry's chief of U.S. affairs, said in a statement. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement welcoming Obama's decision that "circumstances have changed since 1982," when Cuba was listed "because of its efforts to promote armed revolution by forces in Latin America." In his report to Congress, Obama certified that "the government of Cuba has not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding six-month period," and "has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future."

In specific terms Cuba has not abandoned its support for terrorist groups and states:

• Cuba directly and through Venezuela continues to provide intelligence to Hamas and Hezbollah.
• Two Arab Shiites, Ghazi Nasr Al din and Fawzi Kanaan have set-up shop in Caracas, Venezuela under the protection of the Venezuelan government. Working in coordination with the Cuban government, both are active in promoting Hezbollah and Iranian targets in South America and against the U.S. They fundraise for Hezbollah; facilitate travel for Hezbollah activists to Venezuela and through Venezuela to other countries. This is all part of the strategic alliance between Venezuela, Cuba and Iran. There are also reports that they have smuggled narcotics and terrorists to the U.S. through Mexico and arms and explosives under Iranian diplomatic cover.
• Cuban military officers are acting as liaison between Venezuelan military and the narco-guerrillas of the Colombian FARC. Cuban General Leonardo Ramon Andollo, Chief of Operations of the Cuban MINFAR (Ministry of the Armed Forces), visited Venezuela and has acted as a go between the Cuban and Venezuelan military involved in drug trafficking. (1)
• Current and former members of Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA), a Basque terrorist organization continue to reside in Cuba. While some of these terrorists are on the island as part of an accord between the Cuban and Spanish governments, others are hiding in Cuba, fugitives of Spanish justice.
• The FBI estimates that Cuba has provided safe harbor to dozens of fugitives from U.S. justice who live on the island under the protection of the Castro regime. Some of these fugitives are charged with or have been convicted of murder, kidnapping, and hijacking, and they include notorious killers of police officers in New Jersey and New Mexico, most prominent among them Joanne Chesimard, placed by the FBI in 2013 on the "Most Wanted Terrorist List."
• Last summer the Castro regime was caught smuggling weapons out of Cuba on a North Korean vessel in violation of UN sanctions. Cuba lied to the international community about the content of the vessel. The official UN Report on "Cuba-North Korea Illegal Weapons Trafficking," published in March 2013, revealed "a comprehensive, planned strategy to conceal the existence and nature of the cargo." The Report concluded, contrary to Cuba's allegations, that "some, if not all, of the consignment was not expected to be returned to Cuba."
• In February 2014 former Cuban intelligence official, Uberto Mario, described how the Castro regime is training Venezuelan "Tupamaros," pro-Maduro groups who violently attack Venezuelan students.
• Warranting special mention are the outstanding U.S. indictments against Cuban Air Force pilots Lorenzo Alberto Pérez-Pérez and General Rubén Martínez Puente, the head of the Cuban Air Force, who in 1996 shot down two unarmed civilian American aircraft over international waters in the Florida Straits. That act of terrorism, ordered by Fidel and Raul Castro, killed four men, three of them American citizens.
• On January 24, 2014 the Castro government decreed that it would now begin to freeze bank assets affiliated to Al-Qaeda in Cuba. The Castro regime tacitly admitted that they had been facilitating financing of terrorism.
• "Hezbollah in Cuba," the Hamas-funded Turkish "charity" known as IHH continues to operate in Havana. IHH is a member of the "Union of Good," an umbrella organization that financially supports Hamas.
• On October 19, 2013 Iran's new President emphasized that "the Islamic Republic of Iran and Cuba can play a significant role in international organizations. Tehran and Havana share common viewpoints on major international issues."
• On January 15, 2014 Cuban First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade described Iran as a "strategic partner" of Cuba.
• In 2012, in testimony to the U.S. Senate, Director of National Intelligence, James R. Clapper, revealed that Iranian officials at the highest level are now more willing to conduct an attack in the U.S. "He also added that Iran's Supreme leader Ali Khameni was "probably aware of this planning."
• On November 13, 2013 "Prensa Islamica" published an article on the growing Cuba-Iran relationship. The article explains that Cuba has shared with Iran its "vast knowledge on intelligence" and has discussed cooperation "on electromagnetic weapons capable of sabotaging enemy communications."

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