As Obama Removes Cuba from Terrorism List – Castro Brothers Arrest 164 Activists & Artists

Posted by Jim Hoft on Friday, May 29, 2015, 

It’s an Obama world.
While President Obama pandered to a group of Cuban-Americans in Miami this week who openly questioned his new policy towards Communist Cuba, the Castro Regime was taking a different approach towards those who openly disagree with their policies, arresting them.

The Miami New Times reports that anti-Communist protester and artist, Tania Bruguera, was arrested in Havana, Cuba while protesting by publicly reading a book on totalitarianism for 100 hours. The Castro Regime also arrested 163 other artists and activists the same day.

Meanwhile, Obama removed Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism on Friday – not because they changed their behavior or policies… Just because he felt like it.
The Miami Herald reported:

For 33 years, Cuba has occupied a spot on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism — a place reserved for nations that repeatedly provide support for international acts of premeditated, politically motivated violence against non-combatants.

It was placed on the list during the Cold War, an era when there was still a Soviet Union and Cuba was accused of supporting and arming leftist insurgencies in Latin America and Africa.

But 45 days ago Friday, as part of his opening toward Cuba, President Barack Obama informed Congress he intended to remove Cuba from the list that also includes Syria, Iran and Sudan. In his report, he said Cuba hadn’t provided any support for international terrorism in the previous six months and had provided assurances it wouldn’t support such acts in the future.

With no attempt by Congress to override his recommendation in the 45-day period, the president’s directive now takes effect as soon as it is published in the Federal Register.

“We are just two days away,” Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, told reporters in Havana on Wednesday during a visit to the island. “There has not been a vote in the Congress so that’s going to stand. I think it will be a matter of weeks when we have restored diplomatic relations.”

At the conclusion of the fourth round of normalization talks in Washington last Friday, the two sides said they were very close to reaching agreement on renewing diplomatic ties and opening embassies. Cuba has long contended it should never have been on the list and getting off it has been a key element in the Cuban delegation’s negotiating stance since the talks began.