Cuba is back on the list of countries with the designation State Sponsor of Terrorism. In announcing the designation, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo said that Cuba was guilty of

“repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbour to terrorist.” 

He also stated the intention of the administration in “denying the Castro regime the resources it uses to oppress its people at home and countering its malign interference in Venezuela and the rest of the Western Hemishpere.”

In response via twitter Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriquez said,

“We condemn the hypocritical and cynical designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism announced by the U.S. The political opportunism of this action is recognized by anyone with an honest regard for the scourge of terrorism and its victims.”

The designation has far-reaching implications not only for Cuba but for its trade partners as well