MEXICO CITY — As Cuban diplomats gather in Washington on Friday for historic talks to restore relations with the United States, their diplomatic entourage may carry something even more tangible than political demands: bundles of cash.
The reason is that, as one of the few nations in the world on the American government’s list of countries that sponsor terrorism, Cuba cannot find a bank in the United States that will do business with it, State Department officials say.
Now, Cuba’s spot on the American list of states that sponsor terrorism is emerging as a major sticking point in the effort to restore diplomatic ties with the United States and reopen embassies that have been closed for nearly five decades.
On Friday, Cuban and American officials will meet in Washington for a second round of talks — the first were in Havana in January — aimed at carrying out the vow of President Obama and President Raúl Castro to restore diplomatic relations as a prelude to more normal ties.
But whether Cuba should be removed from the state terrorism list is a particularly nettlesome issue, with some Republicans openly opposing it, the Cubans demanding it, and the Obama administration struggling to explain how it will proceed.
“These processes tend to be a little bit more complicated than they seem, and that’s all I’m going to say,” said a senior State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk more frankly than prepared statements allowed.
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A State Department official said there was no government waiver available to circumvent the sanctions laws. M&T Bank declined to comment, saying client information was private.
Some people, of course, would rather Cuba stay on the terror list.
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican who has vowed to block the détente, told a congressional hearing on Thursday that Cuba “poses a clear and present danger to the United States.”
“The Castro regime,” she added, “undermines our national security at every turn and reinforces instability in the entire region by exporting their Cuban military and espionage apparatus across the region.”
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