The Pretext Behind the Trump Administration Labeling Cuba a State Sponsor of Terrorism

(Jason M. Blazakis – Just Security) On May 21, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood at the Miami Homestead Airport and told reporters that Cuba “has been one of the leading sponsors of terrorism in the entire region.” He paired that with a familiar warning: “Having a failed state 90 miles from our shores run by friends of our adversaries poses a threat to the national security of the United States.” The remarks landed the same day the Justice Department unsealed a murder indictment against former Cuban President Raul Castro, and the same day United States Southern Command welcomed the USS Nimitz carrier strike group to the Caribbean. Rubio’s terrorism framing for Cuba is not new, but the factual basis for using it expired long ago. Meanwhile, the rhetorical pattern, creating a “leading state sponsor of terrorism” narrative around a country the administration appears to want to confront militarily, looks an awful lot like the runway the Trump administration built before striking Iran in February. For more than a decade (2008 to 2018), I ran the office at the State Department that managed state sponsor of terrorism (SST) designations. I have written about Cuba’s SST and Not Fully Cooperating Country designations before—for Lawfare, the Conversation, and Defense One. The empirical case has not changed since I last looked at it. On the merits, Cuba does not belong on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. What has changed is U.S. policy toward Cuba and the unseriousness with which the Trump administration wields the “terrorist” designation to support its policy goals. – Trump Administration Labels Cuba State Sponsor of Terrorism