HAVANA — The USA authorities introduced Friday it was sanctioning Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and different high officers for human rights violations and proscribing entry to visas on the anniversary of the biggest protests on the island in current many years.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on social media platform X that the State Division additionally would impose visa restrictions on Cuban judicial and jail officers “chargeable for, or complicit in, the unjust detention and torture of the July 2021 protesters.”
The protests, which weren’t led by an opposition group, developed July 11 and 12, 2021, drawing consideration to the depths of Cuba’s economic crisis.
“The U.S. will proceed to face for the human rights and basic freedoms of the folks of Cuba, and clarify no illegitimate, dictatorial regimes are welcome in our hemisphere,” Rubio stated within the assertion.
The Trump administration has taken a more durable line in opposition to Cuba’s authorities than the Biden administration.
Along with Díaz-Canel, the U.S. sanctioned Cuban Protection Minister Álvaro López Miera and Inside Minister Lázaro Álvarez Casas.
Shortly after the announcement, Johana Tablada, deputy director of the U.S. division within the Cuban International Ministry, lashed out at Rubio, calling him a “defender of genocide, prisons and mass deportations.”
The uncommon protests in 2021 happened after repeated blackouts in Havana and different cities. One man died and a few marches resulted in vandalism.
Teams supporting the federal government responded together with authorities to repress the protests. Human rights teams estimated there have been greater than 1,000 arrests however the authorities gave no official figures.
On the time, the Cuban authorities stated it was the results of a U.S. media campaign and many years of U.S. sanctions.
In 2022, Cuban prosecutors stated some 790 folks have been investigated for acts associated to the protests starting from dysfunction to sabotage and vandalism.
The advocacy group 11J, whose title alludes to the protests, stated late final yr there have been 554 folks serving sentences associated to the protests, however some got conditional launch in January after an appeal from Pope Francis.