The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) invited a second delegation from Cuba — a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism — to visit airport facilities in Florida in May, Martí Noticias reported on Monday.
The FAA-sponsored visit occurred separately from a tour that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) hosted on May 20 that saw communist Cuban officials participate in a secret guided tour of TSA’s control facilities at the Miami International Airport — leading to an outcry of condemnation from the local Miami-Dade County administration, members of the United States Congress, airport personnel, and the Cuban diaspora in Florida that ultimately prompted TSA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reportedly issue an apology.
Martí Noticias, a U.S.-based outlet focused on Cuba, stated on Monday that the FAA confirmed to it that it had hosted a tour for Castro regime officials in May. The outlet also stated that it had obtained access to internal documentation from the Cuban Foreign Ministry relevant to the visit, as well as statements from U.S. officials who spoke to the outlet under the condition of anonymity.
According to a brief statement that the FAA sent to the outlet, “the meeting took place in May, but the Cuban authorities will have to be contacted for information on their itineraries.”
The Cuban Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Martí Noticias.
A diplomatic note that the Cuban Foreign Ministry issued on March 27 that Martí Noticias accessed stated that the FAA allegedly invited four officials from the Civil Aviation Institute of Cuba to visit the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center in May “as part of the Miami/Havana and Houston/Havana Operation Agreement.”
U.S. officials told Martí Noticias on the condition of anonymity that the purpose of the Castro regime officials’ visit was to “discuss the continued safe and efficient movement of aircraft” between Miami and Houston’s air terminals and Cuba.
The anonymous officials asserted that the Castro regime officials were received by a delegation of 15 U.S. officials, including executives in charge of Airspace Support and Procedures from both Miami and Houston’s airports, as well as officials from the FAA’s Western Hemisphere and International Affairs offices.
The United States designated Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST) due to the communist regime’s deep ties with several international terrorist organizations, such as the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Shiite jihadist organization Hezbollah, the Sunni jihadist terrorist group Hamas, and Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Marxist terrorist groups.
Former President Barack Obama, who maintained a friendly stance towards the Castro regime throughout his administration, had Cuba removed from the SST list. Cuba was reintroduced to the list in January 2021 during the administration of former President Donald Trump.
Although Cuba presently remains on the SST list, President Joe Biden had Cuba removed from the list of countries that are “not cooperating fully” with the United States in the fight against terrorism in May — the same month that both the FAA and TSA-hosted airport visits of the Castro regime officials took place.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken claimed in May that Cuba’s inclusion on the list of countries not cooperating with the United States in the fight against terrorism was “no longer appropriate” due to Cuban officials and U.S. law enforcement officials “once again” working together on counterterrorism and other related efforts.
Cuba’s removal from the list of countries that are “not cooperating fully” with U.S. counterterrorism efforts was followed shortly afterward by a new round of sanctions relief that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued on May 28 allowing so-called Cuban “independent private sector entrepreneurs” to access the United States banking system and open U.S. bank accounts.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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