Cuba on Wednesday began releasing prisoners jailed following anti-government protests in 2021, making good on a deal with the Catholic Church that prompted the Biden administration to say it would loosen sanctions on the communist-run nation.

President Joe Biden is planning to lift Cuba's designation as a "state sponsor of terrorism" in the final days of his administration.

The move is likely to be reversed by the incoming Trump administration, as it was Trump who first put Cuba on the terrorism blacklist in his first term