The Cuban government has rejected US accusations that it supports terrorism and sought to justify the presence of representatives of several militant groups on the island.
"By maintaining Cuba on its list of states sponsoring terrorism, the US government is demonstrating that its irrational thirst for vengeance against the Cuban revolution is greater than any genuine interest to curb international terrorism," the Cuban foreign ministry said in a statement.
Cuba was added in 1982 to the US list which also includes Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya and North Korea. The list was reaffirmed last month.
The US government has said that it has not seen signs of active Cuban support for terrorism but that it was harboring representatives of militant groups and was putting up obstacles in the fight against terrorism.
The foreign ministry statement admitted that members of the IRA and the Basque separatist group ETA had been in Cuba but denied harboring fugitives of US justice.
But it said Cuba "has nothing to hide and is ashamed of nothing".
Mr Niall Connolly had been in Havana from 1996 to 2000 as a representative of Sinn Féin, added the foreign ministry.
Cuba said the presence of ETA members dated back to a 1984 initiative between Cuba and Panama aimed at seeking a solution to the Basque crisis, which it said was becoming increasingly complex and threatening for Cuba. "No ETA members residing in Cuba have used our territory for activities against Spain or any other country," it said.
Cuba's support for and protection of Colombian guerrillas, said the statement, "was part of an overall effort to bring a negotiated political settlement" to Colombia's civil war, it said.
The statement rejected the presence in Cuba of American fugitives and accused the United States of being a "sanctuary for known anti-Castro terrorists and assassins".
Relations between Washington and Havana have become strained again since a new crackdown on Cuban dissidents in March. About 75 dissidents were given heavy prison terms. The United States hotly opposed Cuba's reelection last month to a three-year term on the UN Human Rights Commission.
AFP