Cuba to free over 550 prisoners after Biden moves to lift state sponsor of terrorism designation

Cuba said it would release 553 prisoners in response to Washington removing the communist country from its list of terror sponsors in a deal hailed by relatives of jailed protesters.

The White House on Tuesday said President Joe Biden was removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism in one of his last official acts before Donald Trump is sworn in next Monday.

The move is likely to be overturned by Trump, who reinstated Cuba’s terror designation in the final days of his first term of office in 2021.

“An assessment has been completed, and we do not have information that supports Cuba’s designation as being a state sponsor of terrorism,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters.

The deal was negotiated with the help of the Catholic Church for the release of “political prisoners in Cuba and those who have been detained unjustly,” the official added.