Obama moves to drop Cuba from terror blacklist

Washington: President Barack Obama is set to remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, in a landmark step paving the way towards restoring ties frozen for five decades.

Obama on Tuesday notified Congress of his "intent to rescind" Cuba´s inclusion on the blacklist, after a lengthy review launched late last year as Washington openly began a rapprochement with its Cold War foe.

US lawmakers now have 45 days to oppose the move; otherwise, it will go ahead, removing a key hurdle to renewing US diplomatic relations with the communist authorities in Cuba.

"The government of Cuba has not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding six-month period," Obama wrote to US lawmakers to justify his decision, after what administration officials called "a rigorous process" done with "every caution and every care."

Cuba described the move as "fair" and said that it should never have been on the list.

It comes just three days after Obama held a historic hour-long meeting with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro on the sidelines of a weekend summit in Panama, the first face-to-face talks between the presidents of the two nations in half a century.

Cuba was added to the terror list in 1982, and its removal would leave only Iran, Sudan and Syria still on the blacklist.

"Cuba was originally designated as a state sponsor of terrorism because of its efforts to promote armed revolution by forces in Latin America. Our hemisphere, and the world, look very different today than they did 33 years ago," Secretary of State John Kerry said. (AFP)