Congressman Rivera Calls for an End to Unilateral Concessions to State Sponsor of Terrorism

Statement

The U.S. State Department released its annual Country Report on Terrorism for the year 2010 this week and included Cuba on its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

The report provides statistics on terrorism from around the world, and places a special focus on countries that are designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism--countries that have provided support for acts of international terrorism.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Member Congressman David Rivera (FL-25) released the following statement on Cuba's continued inclusion on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list:

"Cuba was first designated a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1982, but the reality is that Cuba has been sponsoring acts of terrorism since the Castro brothers took power 52 years ago.

"The Castro regime's well-established history of supporting terrorist groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army of Colombia (ELN) and Spain's Basque Homeland and Freedom Organization (ETA) are the State Department's official reasons for including Cuba on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. In recent years, the Castro regime has also established and developed ties with Iran, another State Sponsor of Terrorism, as well as a deep-seeded relationship with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez--both of which are considered threats to the United States.

"There is an inherent contradiction in the Obama Administration lifting sanctions on and giving unilateral concessions to the Castro brothers, while the State Department is designating the same regime as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

"The reasons for Cuba's continued inclusion on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism are precisely why the Obama Administration should not be relaxing economic sanctions that only serve to line the pockets of the Castro brothers and their allies with American dollars.

"We should treat the Castro regime as the terrorism sponsors that they are. The Obama Administration should not encourage the free flow of American dollars to support a brutally oppressive regime that we count among the four most dangerous dictatorships in the world."

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