The National Special Brigade, a unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the country, also fell under the restrictions. The measures were introduced due to the suppression of anti-government protests in Cuba
The United States has imposed sanctions against Alvaro Lopez Miera, the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, according to the website of the US Ministry of Finance.
The National Special Brigade, which is part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Cuba, was also blacklisted. The sanctions were introduced within the framework of the Magnitsky Act, which allows restrictions to be applied to those who, according to Washington, are responsible for human rights violations. The measures include a ban on entry to the United States and the freezing of assets. They were introduced against the background of mass anti-government protests in Cuba, which took place in the first half of July.
CNN and The Washington Post reported that the administration of US President Joe Biden will announce restrictions on the Cuban leadership. It is assumed that initially the sanctions will affect a small number of representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the armed forces of Cuba, writes WP. According to the source of the publication, it usually takes several weeks to collect evidence of abuses, human rights violations and corruption within the framework of the Magnitsky Act, but Biden instructed the State Department and the Ministry of Finance to complete this work in a shorter time.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said yesterday that the Ministry of Finance is studying the possibility of imposing sanctions against Cuban officials responsible for violence, harassment and human rights violations against peaceful demonstrators. Washington is concerned about the situation and the reaction to it from the official Havana. “We call for calm and condemn any violence against those who protest peacefully, and we also call on the Cuban government to release all those detained for peaceful protest,” he said.
Anti-government protests in Cuba-the first of this scale since the 1990s-began on July 11. Local residents are protesting against rising food prices, as well as against its shortage, power outages and lack of medicines. Unrest swept cities from Havana to Santiago de Cuba on the southeast coast, thousands of people took to the streets.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel called on government supporters to take to the streets and resist possible provocations. He accused the United States of organizing the riots.
Dozens of people were arrested across the country. According to the authorities, one detainee died.
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