Why Was Cuba Ever Considered a Sponsor of Terrorism?

On January 14, 2025, outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden announced that Cuba would be removed from Washington’s so-called “State Sponsors of Terrorism” list. Just one week later, on January 21, newly inaugurated President Donald Trump reversed the decision and added Cuba right back on.

But we must ask: why was Cuba ever on this list?

According to the U.S. State Department, Cuba was listed for its “long history of providing advice, haven, communications, training, and financial support to guerrilla groups and individual terrorists.” But those “terrorists” were actually revolutionary and anti-colonial fighters across Latin America and Africa.

In 1975, Cuba sent tens of thousands of troops to Angola to help the MPLA fight apartheid South African forces. Around 10,000 Cubans died defending African liberation. Their sacrifice was decisive in the defeat of apartheid.

Cuba also supported pro Lumumba forces in the Congo against the CIA backed Mobutu regime, and stood with Amílcar Cabral in the liberation of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde.

Cuba did not support terrorism. Cuba supported liberation. Cuba fought and bled for Africa.

When the U.S. calls Cuba a “state sponsor of terrorism,” it is effectively labelling Africa’s freedom fighters, Agostinho Neto, Amílcar Cabral, and others, as terrorists. That is not just an insult to Cuba. It is an insult to Africa itself.

The truth is that “terrorism” has long been a political weapon of empire, used to criminalise those who resist colonial domination and foreign occupation. It was abused during the Cold War, in the so-called “War on Terror,” and it continues to be abused today to target independent nations that refuse to bow to U.S. power.

Cuba fought for Africa. And Cuba has paid a price. The Global South must stand with Cuba against this ongoing persecution.