Cuba gave U.S. assurances it will not support terrorism in future: U.S. officials

Cuba gave U.S. assurances it will not support terrorism in future: U.S.
officials
WASHINGTON

(Reuters) - The United States decided to drop Cuba from its list of
state sponsors of terrorism on Tuesday partly because of Cuban
assurances that it would not support terrorism in the future, senior
U.S. officials said.

"The assurances that they (provided) were fairly wide-ranging and fairly
high-level," said one senior U.S. official who briefed reporters, adding
that the Cubans had pledged "that they will no longer support acts of
terrorism in the future."

The White House on Tuesday said President Barack Obama had decided to
remove Cuba from the list, which follows the Dec. 17 U.S. and Cuban
joint move to pursue normalizing relations after more than half a
century of enmity.

The two countries have made headway toward formally agreeing to open
embassies but have not yet reached an agreement, a second senior U.S.
official told reporters.

For the United States, some of the issues involved include the ability
for U.S. diplomats to travel freely around the island, upgrading its
obsolete equipment and facilities in Havana and increasing its staffing
levels.

"We're still not quite there yet," said the second senior official. "I'm
optimistic."

The U.S. Congress has 45 days to consider Obama's decision to drop Cuba
from the state sponsors of terrorism list before it takes effect. It was
not immediately clear what would be the practical implications of being
removed from the list.

In theory, once dropped Cuba would no longer be subject to certain
sanctions including a ban on U.S. arms exports, controls on "dual-use"
items with military and civilian applications, the prohibition of U.S.
economic aid and automatic U.S. opposition to international financial
institutions making loans to Cuba.

However, U.S. officials said that a series of other U.S. economic
sanctions continued to apply.

"Economic sanctions under (the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign
Asset Control) Cuban asset control regulations will remain in effect and
most transactions with Cuba and with Cuban nationals and with the Cuban
government will remain prohibited absent authorization from Treasury,"
said a third U.S. official.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Sandra Maler and Eric Beech)

Source: Cuba gave U.S. assurances it will not support terrorism in
future: U.S. officials | Reuters -
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/15/us-cuba-usa-obama-assurances-idUSKBN0N529020150415