--- title: Barack Obama Poised to Remove Cuba From Terrorism List description: President Obama said he would move quickly on a decision to remove Cuba from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism canonical: https://time.com/3774217/cuba-obama-terrorism-list/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-07T17:47:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:27.472Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Poised to Remove Cuba From Terrorism List og:description: "I think there's a real opportunity here," Obama said of normalizing relations with the island nation og:url: https://time.com/3774217/cuba-obama-terrorism-list/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Poised to Remove Cuba From Terrorism List twitter:description: "I think there's a real opportunity here," Obama said of normalizing relations with the island nation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Obama Poised to Remove Cuba From Terrorism List ## Video: Five Things You Should Know Before Traveling To Cuba [Watch (HLS stream): Five Things You Should Know Before Traveling To Cuba](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/f1ZZxJ3O.m3u8) (1:25)  _Published 2015-01-16. The U.S. is only allowing travel to Cuba for government-approved reasons. Also, sorry — there’s a limit to how much alcohol and tobacco you can bring back_  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Apr 7, 2015 5:47 PM UTC  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Apr 7, 2015 5:47 PM UTC President Obama said Tuesday that he would move quickly on a decision to remove Cuba from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, pending a recommendation from the agency. “As soon as I get a recommendation, I’ll be in a position to act on it,” the President [said](http://www.npr.org/2015/04/07/397933577/transcript-president-obamas-full-npr-interview-on-iran-nuclear-deal) during an interview with National Public Radio. Cuba was designated a state sponsor of terrorism in 1982\. The Obama Administration announced the beginning of a historic push to diplomatic relations with Cuba late last year. Obama on Tuesday also reiterated his willingness to reopen an embassy in Cuba and establish “regular contacts” in the country. “I think there’s a real opportunity here, and we are going to continue to… move forward on it,” he said. \[[_NPR_](http://www.npr.org/2015/04/07/397933577/transcript-president-obamas-full-npr-interview-on-iran-nuclear-deal)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3774217/cuba-obama-terrorism-list/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3774217/cuba-obama-terrorism-list/"},"headline":"Obama Poised to Remove Cuba From Terrorism List","datePublished":"2015-04-07T17:47:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:27.472Z","description":"\"I think there's a real opportunity here,\" Obama said of normalizing relations with the island nation","url":"https://time.com/3774217/cuba-obama-terrorism-list/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","Cuba topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3774217/cuba-obama-terrorism-list/","name":"Obama Poised to Remove Cuba From Terrorism List"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Five Things You Should Know Before Traveling To Cuba","description":"The U.S. is only allowing travel to Cuba for government-approved reasons. 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