President Joe Biden is to remove the US designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The removal is part of a prisoner release deal, the White House said on Tuesday.

Shortly afterwards, Cuba announced it would release 553 prisoners detained for “diverse crimes”.

President-elect Donald Trump reinstated the country’s terror designation in the final days of his first presidency in 2021, banning US economic aid and arms exports to the country.

But on Tuesday, a President Joe Biden administration official said an assessment of the situation had presented “no information” that supported the designation.

Cuba said Biden’s move was a step “in the right direction” despite its “limited nature”.

“This decision puts an end to specific coercive measures that, along with many others, cause serious damage to the Cuban economy, with a severe effect on the population,” the country’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.

Hundreds of prisoners will “gradually” be freed following talks brokered by the Catholic Church, a separate statement read a few hours later.

Details about the prisoners have not been announced – it was hoped the deal would prompt the release of some protesters imprisoned after large anti-government protests in Cuba over the nation’s economic decline in 2021.

Cuba currently sits alongside North Korea, Syria and Iran on the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

This means they are deemed by the US to have “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism”.

Adding Cuba back to the list after its removal in 2015 by President Barack Obama, Trump citied the communist country’s backing of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

At the time Cuba called the move “cynical,” “hypocritical” and an act of “political opportunism”.

Biden is to notify Congress of his plans, which also include reversing Trump-era financial restrictions on some Cubans, a White House statement said.

He will also suspend the ability of individuals to make claims to confiscated property in Cuba, the statement read.

It is unclear whether Trump will reverse this latest decision when he returns to office on 20 January.

The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs however raised fears that the decision could easily be reversed since other economic blockage are still in place.

The Ministry’s statement which was made available to our correspondent in Abuja stated: “Despite its limited scope, this is a decision that points to the right direction and is in line with the sustained and firm demand by the government and the people of Cuba, as well as the broad, emphatic and reiterated call by numerous governments, particularly those of Latin America and the Caribbean; Cubans residing abroad; political, religious and social organizations and numerous political figures of the United States and other countries. The government of Cuba expresses its gratitude to all of them for their contribution and sensitivity.

“This decision puts an end to specific coercive measures which, together with many others, seriously damage the Cuban economy and have a severe impact on the population. This is, and has been, an ever-present issue in all official exchanges between Cuba and the Government of the United States.

“It is important to point out that the economic blockade and a large part of the tens of coercive measures entered into force since 2017 to further strengthen it, still remain in force, with their full extraterritorial impact and in violation of International Law and the human rights of all Cubans.

“The decision announced today by the United States, rectifies, in a very limited way, some aspects of a cruel and unjust policy. This is a rectification that is being introduced right now, on the verge of a change of government, when it should have been materialized years ago, as an elemental act of justice, without asking for anything in return and without fabricating pretexts to justify inaction, if there was a true intention to act properly. “Recognition of the truth, the absolute absence of reasons for such designation and the exemplary performance of our country in the combat of terrorism, something that has been recognized even by several US government agencies, should have sufficed to remove Cuba from the arbitrary list of State sponsors of terrorism.

“It is known that the government of that country could reverse in the future the measures that have been adopted today, as has already happened in the past, and as an expression of the lack of legitimacy, ethics, consistency and reason in its behavior towards Cuba.

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“To do that, US politicians usually do not take time to find an honest justification, as long as the vision described in 1960 by the then Deputy Assistant Secretary, Lester Mallory, and his expressed intention to put Cubans on their knees by way of economic siege, misery, hunger and desperation, remain in force. They will not take time to find justifications as long as that government continues to be unable to recognize or accept Cuba’s right to self-determination, and as long as it remains ready to pay the political cost meant by the international isolation caused by its genocidal and illegal economic suffocation policy against Cuba.

“Cuba will continue to face and condemn that economic warfare policy, the foreign interference programs and the disinformation and discredit operations financed every year with tens of millions of dollars of the US federal budget.

It will also continue to be ready to develop a respectful relation with that country, based on dialogue and non-interference in the internal affairs of both countries, despite the differences.”