The US President Barack Obama has announced the intention to remove Cuba from the list of States that sponsor terrorism.

The normalization of relations between the United States of America and Cuba has reached another decisive step with the letter by US President Barack Obama  to Congress on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 indicating the intention to remove Cuba from the list of States  that sponsor  terrorism. He said Cuba had, “not provided any support for international terrorism" over the past six months and added that the country had, “provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future,” BBC quoted President Obama as saying.

The White House President Secretary, Josh Earnest is quoted as explaining, “That determination is based on the statutory standard – and the facts – and those facts have led the President to declare his intention to rescind Cuba’s State Sponsor of Terrorism designation.” The US State Department first placed Cuba on the list of States that sponsor terrorism in 1982, for what it called efforts "to promote armed revolution by organisations that used terrorism". The US believed Cuba had long provided a safe haven for members of the Basque separatist group ETA and Colombia's Farc guerrilla group, according to its 2013 Report on Terrorism. Cuba was found on the list alongside Syria, Iran and Sudan.

The US government’s move towards re-establishing normal relations with Cuba came just days after talks between President Obama of the US and Raul Castro of Cuba on April 11, 2015 during the Summit of the Americas in Panama, four months after Mr Obama announced a historic U-turn in Cuba-US relations that went soar in 1960 when the US government broke off diplomatic relations and imposed a trade embargo on Cuba. After removing Cuba from the list of States that sponsor terrorism, the Cuban government will want the US to further remove the trade embargo and the subsequent re-opening of embassies in both countries.