The Biden government announced on Friday that it will impose new sanctions on the Cuban National Revolutionary Police and its two senior officials because the United States hopes to increase pressure on the Communist government after protests on the island this month.
The Director and Deputy Directors of the National Revolutionary Police and the agency, Oscar Callejas Valcarce and Eddie Sierra Arias, are the targets of the latest sanctions announced by the Foreign Assets Control Office of the Ministry of Finance. The police are part of the Cuban Ministry of Interior. As early as January, they were fully designated by the Trump administration.
The Cuban President acknowledged the government’s mistakes, but urged the protesters not to “hate”
“We heard free calls from the island. The United States is taking concerted action to support the cause of the Cuban people,” President Joe Biden said at the beginning of a White House meeting with Cuban-Americans shortly after the Treasury Department announced the sanctions.
The government stated that it is considering a wide range of other options for responding to the protests, including providing Internet access for Cubans, and has established a working group to review U.S. remittance policies to ensure that more Cuban Americans are sent home The money can be used for remittances. Directly into the hands of their families, the government will not get a piece of the pie. Biden added that more sanctions are coming.
The White House meeting was held nearly three weeks after the unusual protests on July 11, in which thousands of Cubans took to the streets of Havana and other cities to protest shortages, power outages and government policies. This is the first such protest since the 1990s.
The Ministry of Finance said in a statement that the Cuban regime deployed a PNR to attack the protesters. According to the Ministry of Finance, police officers were photographed confronting protesters and arrested in Havana, including members of the Mothers Movement on July 11, an organization that aims to organize the families of imprisoned and missing persons.
According to the Ministry of Finance, in Camaguey, a Catholic priest was beaten and arrested by the PNR while defending young protesters. The Ministry of Finance stated that PNR officials also assaulted a group of peaceful demonstrators, including several minors, and there were records showing that the PNR used clubs to disperse peaceful protests across Cuba.
Andrea Gach, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, said: “The Ministry of Finance will continue to identify and name people who are involved in serious violations of human rights by the Cuban regime.” And those responsible for the voice of respect for human rights.”
Among the Cuban-American activists who met with Biden was Yotuel Romero, one of the authors of the song “Patria y vida!” An official said that this has become a tribute to the protests.
Other attendees included L. Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas; Anna Sophia Pérez, founder of the Miami Freedom Project, Manny Diaz, former Mayor of Miami, and New Jersey Democratic Senator and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez.
White House officials said that Biden will discuss new sanctions and possible ways to establish Internet access for the Cuban people.
Internet access is a sensitive issue in Cuba. A few days before the recent protests, there were calls on social media for anti-government demonstrations. The Cuban government stated that anti-Castro groups in the United States used social media, especially Twitter, to launch opposition and accused Twitter of not taking any action to stop it.
During the July 11 protests, Internet services were cut off for a while, although the Cuban authorities did not explicitly admit that they did so.
Some US leaders, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (Ron DeSantis), said the White House should take steps to maintain Cuba’s Internet services, including using balloons as Wi-Fi access points for citizens.
The Biden administration is also considering suggestions made by American advocates for trade with Cuba that will restore the way Cuban Americans send money to relatives on the island.
Due to paying a certain percentage of transaction fees to the government, Biden and others refused to fully resume remittances. But according to supporters, according to a proposal under consideration, the transfer agent will waive this fee before the end of the year.
However, the proposal must be approved by the Cuban government, and it is completely unclear whether it will agree to it.
Last week, the US government announced sanctions against Cuban Armed Forces Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera and the Special Brigade of the Ministry of the Interior-known as “black berets”-for participating in the arrest of protesters. .
International organizations severely criticized the Cuban government, saying that while people affected by the country’s crisis participated in the protests, “criminals” took advantage of the situation to create riots. Sometimes the protests turned into acts of vandalism such as robbery, robbery and confrontation with the police.
Government sympathizers also took to the streets to defend the authorities and the revolution.
So far, it is not clear how many people have been detained, although the judicial authorities have stated that 19 trials have been conducted, involving 59 people.
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Castillo reports from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Alexandra Jaffe reported.
© 2021 Canadian Press
