(Newser)
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With senior US diplomats determining Cuba is no longer supporting terrorist groups such as Colombia's FARC rebels, the State Department could be poised to remove Cuba from its list of states that sponsor terrorism, reports the Boston Globe. "There is a pretty clear case ... that they don’t really meet the standard anymore," says one unnamed official. Syria, Sudan, and Iran are still listed as state sponsors of terrorism; North Korea was removed by George Bush in 2008.
John Kerry has held meetings in recent days to review Cuba policy, which has centered around an embargo on the small communist nation for the past five decades. The embargo cannot be lifted without congressional approval, but the White House is free to remove Cuba from the terror list. The development comes as US lawmakers intensify the push to free Alan Gross, a former government contractor who has been held by Cuba since 2009, reports the Washington Post.
