STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some other news we're following - the United States - the Biden administration - says it is removing Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. At the same time, in a deal pushed by Pope Francis, Cuba says it's going to release hundreds of people who were jailed after antigovernment protests several years ago. These developments happen just before a change of administration in the United States, which raises the question of whether any of this will last or matter. NPR's Eyder Peralta reports.
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: This latest chapter in U.S.-Cuba relations dates back to the summer of 2021.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Libertad. Libertad. Libertad.
PERALTA: Thousands of Cubans across many cities took to the streets to protest against the government. The government ended up arresting more than 700 Cubans. Many of them ended up being convicted of everything from public disorder to sedition. At the same time, the Biden administration, which many expected to ease relations with Cuba, ended up leaving most of the sanctions from the Trump administration in place. From Rome, Pope Francis focused on the protesters in jail. And in January of last year, he sent Cardinal Beniamino Stella to Havana.
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BENIAMINO STELLA: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "The pope very much wants a positive response," he said at the time. It doesn't matter what the Cuban government wants to call a release, whether amnesty or clemency.
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STELLA: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: What's important, he said, is that the young people who voice their thoughts can return home. And on Tuesday, the Cuban government said that it would begin releasing 553 prisoners. The Biden administration said to help the Catholic Church, they would drop some sanctions and remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The only other countries on the list are Iran, Syria and North Korea. Cuba's removal from the list would make it easier for foreign companies to do business in Cuba. But John Kavulich, who runs the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, says all of this is likely to implode as soon as Trump takes office. For Cuba, it's like...
JOHN KAVULICH: They find a winning lottery ticket, and then an hour later, they find out it isn't theirs.
PERALTA: The Trump administration, he says, is already stacked with hard-liners, including the Cuban American Senator Marco Rubio, whom Trump nominated for secretary of state. So for now, global companies, he says, will likely continue to act as if Cuba remains on the state sponsors of terrorism list.
KAVULICH: Because it's easy to return them to it. So why make any changes to your business model that is, by definition, going to be hostage to the unknown?
PERALTA: On Capitol Hill, three Cuban American members of Congress rejected the Biden administration moves. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart called it, quote, "shameful." Representative Maria Elvira Salazar said in less than a week, Trump could change all of it.
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MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR: So maybe the Cubans will have a very short party.
PERALTA: In a statement, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the decision to release prisoners was taken unilaterally. But he did thank those who helped bring an end to the sanctions. Cuba, he said, should never have been on the list.
Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Mexico City.
(SOUNDBITE OF TOMMY GUERRERO'S "REFLECTIONS OF NOW") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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