WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the ten-year anniversary of the Obama-Biden Administration’s normalization agreement with Cuba, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) led Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in calling on President Biden to restore two key aspects of the policy of the Obama-Biden Administration towards Cuba. In their letter, the Senators asked President Biden to remove Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism and restore the right of Americans to travel freely to Cuba. The Senators’ letter highlighted how after nearly eight years of unilateral sanctions and isolation, the national interest in restoring the Obama-Biden policy is even more urgent and compelling.  

In the final days of the Trump Administration, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—without providing justification or consulting Congress—added Cuba to the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. President Obama had previously removed Cuba from the list after conducting an appropriate review.  

“The Obama-Biden policy of positive engagement was squarely in the national interest when it was adopted ten years ago today, and it was praised by a wide range of constituencies throughout this country. For two years, the approach you took with President Obama advanced U.S. security and enhanced the lives of the Cuban people,” wrote the Senators. “There is no justifiable or practical reason to continue a policy of sanctions against a country whose government poses no threat to the United States, and whose leaders have long profited by blaming our sanctions to deflect domestic criticism of their own repressive and bankrupt policies.” 

“Indeed, the United States routinely engages diplomatically and economically with authoritarian governments with which we have profound disagreements. As you have noted many times, we do so not as a favor to those regimes but because a pragmatic approach best serves U.S. national interests and is far more likely to benefit the people of those countries. Cuba is no different,” continued the Senators. “In fact, Americans have far more in common with the Cuban people than with those of many countries that are ruled by autocratic regimes, some of which are U.S. partners.” 

The Senators concluded: “We recognize that only Congress can repeal the embargo against Cuba. But as the Obama-Biden Administration demonstrated, you have the executive authority to change U.S. policy in ways that would materially benefit the people of both countries and serve our national interests.” 

In the letter, the Senators urged President Biden to take two critically important steps in the final weeks of his presidency: 

• Remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Cuba’s presence on the list has no factual or legal basis, as a comprehensive national security review conducted during the Obama-Biden administration established. Beyond depreciating the credibility of the list and U.S. efforts to fight actual terrorism, Cuba’s status on the list compromises the private sector’s ability to conduct basic commercial transactions, hinders the ability of Cubans to import much needed medical equipment, and impedes humanitarian efforts to address the current crisis of deprivation in Cuba. 

• Restore the right of Americans to travel freely to Cuba as they can to every other country except North Korea and end the Trump era “Cuba prohibition lists” that restrict where Americans can stay, where they can eat, and what they can buy and bring home.    

Read the full text of the letter. 

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