US re-designates Cuba as state sponsor of terrorism

The Trump administration has re-designated Cuba as a ''state sponsor of terrorism'' about a week away from the transition of power.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that the US government had been focused from the start on denying the Castro regime the resources it uses to ''oppress its people at home, and countering its malign interference in Venezuela and the rest of the Western Hemisphere''.

''The State Department has designated Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism for repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbor to terrorists,'' Pompeo said.

The previous Obama Administration had previously removed from this designation.

''With this action, we will once again hold Cuba's government accountable and send a clear message: the Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and subversion of US justice,'' he said. PTI LKJHMB