Caracas, Jan 21 : The Venezuelan government has expressed its strong rejection of US President Donald Trump's decision to reinclude Cuba in the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

"This unfounded and arbitrary measure represents an act of hostility that contradicts the principles of international law and undermines global efforts for peace and cooperation," the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Tuesday, local time.

"Venezuela firmly condemns this unjust act and calls on the peoples and governments of the world to denounce and clearly reject such decisions, which violate the principles of sovereignty and seek to justify the inhumane blockade against the Cuban people," the statement emphasised.

The Venezuelan government reiterated its solidarity with the Caribbean nation and its commitment to defending "the self-determination of peoples against any attempt at imperialist domination," Xinhua news agency reported.

In the final days of his administration, Joe Biden removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, but Trump reversed the decision on his first day in office.

On January 14, Biden notified Congress that his administration would remove the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, the White House said, as part of a deal to free political prisoners in the Caribbean island country and those determined by Washington as being unjustly detained by the government in Havana.

Senior Biden administration officials had said during a press call that the move was made after the administration completed an assessment and concluded there was "no credible evidence" showing Cuba is currently supporting international terrorism.

In doing so, Biden revoked the move by his predecessor, Donald Trump, in January 2021 to re-include Cuba in the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Trump did so in the waning days of his first presidential term to reverse the efforts seeking rapprochement with Cuba by former President Barack Obama, during whose second term in office the United States lifted Cuba's terror designation.

Senior Biden administration officials said then that they expected Cuba to release "many dozens" of prisoners by the time Trump would be inaugurated again as president on January 20.

Biden had also signed a national security memorandum to rescind a 2017 Cuba sanction policy by Trump known as 'National Security Presidential Memorandum 5' effectively ending the restrictions on certain Cuban persons and entities conducting financial transactions with US persons and entities.

To further incentivize the Cuban government to release prisoners, the Biden administration issued a waiver for Title III of the Helms Burton Act for a period of six months, according to a statement released by the White House.

The move, as a result, blocked US nationals or other individuals to bring claims in US courts over property confiscated by Cuban authorities after the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

/IANS