State Department Review of Cuba’s Status on Terrorism List Is Complete, Obama Says

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

President Obama said Thursday that the State Department had completed its review of whether to remove Cuba from its list of nations that sponsor terrorism, but he added that he had not yet received a final recommendation and was not ready to announce a decision.

“Our emphasis has been on the facts,” Mr. Obama said of considering Cuba’s removal from the State Department’s terrorism list, where it has remained for more than 30 years. “We want to make sure that given that this is a powerful tool to isolate those countries that genuinely do support terrorism, that when we make those designations, we’ve got strong evidence that, in fact, that’s the case.”

He added, “As circumstances change, then that list will change as well.”

Removing Cuba from the list would clear a major obstacle to the re-establishment of diplomatic relations, as the two former political enemies advance toward their closest ties in half a century.

The review was ordered by Mr. Obama in December, when he and President Raúl Castro of Cuba agreed to restore diplomatic ties and move toward normal relations. The State Department looked at whether Cuba had engaged in terrorism activity in the last six months — the criteria for designating a country as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Speaking after a meeting here with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller of Jamaica, Mr. Obama said that the State Department’s determination was now going through an interagency review that has not yet been finished.

The timing left open the possibility that he could announce a final decision at the Summit of the Americas opening in Panama on Friday, where he hopes to highlight momentum toward the diplomatic opening with Cuba. At the summit, any face-to-face interactions Mr. Obama has with Mr. Castro — the first since the president announced the policy shift — will be scrutinized for their symbolic significance.

“There’s a process involved,” Mr. Obama said. “I won’t make a formal announcement today about what those recommendations are. I’ll wait until I’ve received them.”

Mr. Obama was attending a gathering of Caribbean leaders here on his way to the summit in Panama. It will be Mr. Castro’s first time attending the Summit of the Americas, from which his country had been barred because of Cuba’s 1962 expulsion from the Organization of American States at the United States’ behest. American officials have not ruled out the possibility of a one-on-one meeting between Mr. Obama and Mr. Castro.

Cuba’s removal from the list would allow Mr. Obama and Mr. Castro to enter the summit with a significant sign of progress to show for the months of behind-the-scenes negotiations between their governments that have followed the December announcement. It would also mark a crucial milestone in Mr. Obama’s effort to turn the page on a Cold War-era grudge.

In meetings on Thursday, Caribbean leaders praised Mr. Obama for pursuing the normalization of relations with the island nation, a move they said would be beneficial to the entire region. Ms. Simpson Miller told the president: “You’re on the right side of history,” calling the opening “a bold and courageous move.”

Prime Minister Perry G. Christie of the Bahamas, who was leading the Caribbean gathering, also singled out Mr. Obama’s shift in policy toward Cuba in his opening remarks, calling it “a pleasing and welcome development.”