The Biden-Harris administration Friday re-added Cuba to the United States’ list of countries which are “not cooperating fully against terrorism.” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made the announcement via Public Notice 11747 in the Federal Register. The full list includes Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela. Blinken must now submit the updated list to Congress for review.

The move was met with derision by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, who stated:

The US is well aware of Cuba‘s clean slate in the struggle against terrorism as well as Cuba’s experience as victim of State terrorism. It resorts to slanders in such a sensitive issue as a pretext to continue the unremitting economic warfare repudiated all over the world.

Rodriguez alleged that the move is pre-text for the United States to disinvite Cuba from the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, CA. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has threatened not to attend the summit, in retaliation for the potential exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Lopez stated, “[p]articipation in the Los Angeles Summit has not yet been resolved because we are proposing that no one is excluded because we seek the unity of all America.”

The Biden-Harris administration lifted some travel restrictions for Americans wishing to travel to Cuba. However, the administration has also maintained Cuba’s place on the ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’ list after former President Trump added it days before he left office. Ned Price, spokesperson for the US Department of State, claims, “[t]he Administration’s policy towards Cuba continues to focus first and foremost on support for the Cuban people, including their human rights and their political and economic well-being.”