Georgetown: The Guyana Cuba Solidarity Movement (GCSM) has lauded the move by the US government to formally dropped Cuba from its state sponsors of terrorism.
The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry signed the final order to rescind Cuba’s State Sponsor of Terrorism designation, effective from May 29.
President of the Guyana Cuba Solidarity Movement (GCSM) Haleem Khan who hails the move as visionary said after 54 years of isolation Cuba's removal from the list takes away one of the largest impediments to normalization talks between Cuba and the U.S. that have been ongoing since President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro announced in December that the two countries would end their diplomatic isolation.
He explained that while the United States has significant concerns and disagreements with a wide range of Cuba's policies and actions, these fall outside the criteria relevant to the rescission of a State Sponsor of Terrorism designation.
Underscoring the benefits of the recantation, Khan said the most immediate change could be the use of American-issued credit and debit cards in Cuba.
“The new rules published in January allowed for such transactions for the first time, and American Express and MasterCard have announced that they would allow their cards to be used on the island…
This is going to open the door to more banking, more credit-card processing.”
Cuba’s removal also means it will have more access to global financial markets and loans from international organizations such as the World Bank.
While the U.S. maintains its economic embargo on Cuba, which can only be changed by an act of Congress, new rules published by the Obama administration in January allowed for some financial openings.
Supporters of Obama's policy of direct engagement with Cuba hailed Friday's move as another step in the long process toward improving the condition of Cubans caught in the political crossfire between Washington and Havana.
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