January 8, 2010 - By REUTERS - HAVANA (Reuters) — Cuba angrily rejected on Friday U.S. accusations that it supports terrorist groups and demanded its removal from a U.S. list of “state sponsors of terrorism.”

In the communist-led island’s latest public criticism of the Obama administration, Cuba’s government issued a statement disputing U.S. charges that it backs Basque and Colombian groups engaged in terrorist activities and that it illegally harbors fugitives from U.S. justice.

It accused the United States of harboring “hundreds of criminals, murderers and terrorists” it said had acted against the Cuban government since Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution. Fidel Castro, 83, handed over the Cuban presidency to his younger brother Raul Castro, 78, in early 2008.

Cuba has long chafed at being on the U.S. “state sponsors of terrorism” list, where it was placed in 1982 during the administration of President Ronald Reagan.

But its latest reaction signaled growing anger and frustration in Havana with U.S. President Barack Obama, who had raised expectations for an improvement in U.S.-Cuban relations when he said early in his administration last year that he wanted to “recast” long-hostile ties.

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