Following the power transfer in Washington on Monday, US President Donald Trump has rescinded nearly 80 of his predecessor Joe Biden’s orders. This includes the decision to remove Cuba from the list of states that support terrorism. As a result, the Caribbean island was only off the list for six days.
The White House justified the re-addition of Cuba to the list, citing the same reasons as Iran, North Korea, and Syria – that the previous administration’s decisions were “deeply unpopular”. The reversal, it claims, will enable the US to restore its institutions and become a “unified, just, safe, and thriving nation”.
Although the move was not unexpected, the Cuban government condemned the decision as “deceptive”. President Miguel Díaz-Canel described the move as a “gesture of arrogance and disregard for the truth” on the X platform, stating that the real goal is to “strengthen the economic war against Cuba for the sake of dominance”. The absurd decision, he said, will tarnish the US’ image, while the economic blockade imposed by Trump has created shortages in Cuba and increased the migration flow from the island to the US.
Cuba’s Foreign Minister characterized the re-addition of his country to the list as “medieval”. He described the recent decisions of the new US administration as a “civilizational step back” and accused Trump of being “drunk on his own arrogance” and aware of the lie. The diplomat added that the Republican aims to punish Cuban families and escalate the economic war.
Biden had removed Cuba from the list of terrorism-supporting states on January 14. He justified the decision, saying that Cuba had not supported international terrorism in any way over the past six months and that the Cuban government had assured that it would not support any acts of international terrorism in the future. US media had already predicted that this decision would be reversed by Trump’s administration.
In its history, Cuba has been listed three times – first in 1982. After being removed from the list in 2015, the country was re-listed in 2021 and is now on the list for the third time, since January 20, 2025.