Cuba: US sanctions two senior Castro police for brutal crackdown on protests

A week after the first round of sanctions against the Cuban regime for the brutal crackdown on demonstrators who took to the streets of the island on July 11 United States sanctioned the director and the vice-director of the Revolutionary National Police (PNR), an organization that was also reported by the Treasury Department North American.

Joe Biden’s government said the Foreign Assets Control Office Treasury (OFAC) blocked all the properties and interests of the PNR, as well as its director, Oscar Callejas placeholder image, and its deputy director, Whirlpool Sierra, prohibiting any US citizen, resident or entity from doing business with them.

Following the announcement of the sanctions, US President Joe Biden assured that “Unless there is a drastic change, which I do not anticipate, there will be more” reprimands against the Castro regime.

The Treasury said in a statement that since the July protests began, “the Cuban regime deployed the PNR, a police unit under the Cuban Interior Ministry, to suppress and attack the demonstrators ”.

He added that PNR agents were photographed “confront and arrest demonstrators in Havana, including the Movimiento de Madres 11 de Julio, a group founded to organize the families of prisoners and disappeared”.

In Camagüey, a city in central-eastern Cuba, “Catholic priest beaten and detained by PNR while defending young protesters“Said the Treasury, adding that police officers also beat a group of demonstrators, including several minors, and dissolved “violently“Peaceful demonstrations.

“Today’s measure serves to hold those who suppressed the Cuban people’s calls for freedom and respect for human rights to account.“said OFAC director Andrea Gacki, promising new sanctions for those who” facilitate the participation of the Cuban regime in serious abuses “.

Last week, United States sanctioned Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) Minister Álvaro López-Miera, and an elite military unit known as the “black wasps” or “black berets”.

The US Treasury Department announced the sanctions in a statement, who hold these authorities responsible for the repression of the July 11 anti-government demonstrations in Cuba.

López-Miera is a trusted man of former Cuban dictator Raúl Castro, who also served as FAR minister on the island for decades; while “black wasps” are the popular name for the elite unit known as the Interior Ministry’s National Special Brigade.

Sanctions block any assets that López-Miera or members of this elite unit may have under US jurisdiction, and prohibits persons residing in the United States from doing business with them.

“This is just the beginning: the United States will continue to sanction those responsible for the oppression of the Cuban people.US President Joe Biden said in a statement.

The Treasury Department alleged that the ministry headed by López-Miera carried out “an essential role“In the repression of demonstrations in Cuba, at the”attack demonstrators and arrest or eliminate more than 100 demonstrators in an attempt to suppress these demonstrations”.

As for the special brigade of “black wasps“, The Treasury assures that the Cuban government deployed it on July 11 to”repress“The protests and”attack protesters“, therefore he considers himself responsible for”serious human rights violations”.

Sanctions are imposed on the basis of so-called global law Magnitsky, a US law that allows the United States to freeze financial assets and ban travel to those who violate human rights in any country in the world.

This decision shows Biden’s interest in harden its policy towards Cuba in light of this month’s protests, despite pledging during the election campaign to revert to the thaw promoted by the former president Barack obama (2009-2017).

The White House is also evaluating other measures, such as re-authorizing the sending of funds to Cuba, which has been banned since last November, although it first wants to guarantee that the money “fall directly into the hands of the Cuban people», He explained to the agency EFE an American official.

Another of the measures analyzed by the Biden government is the transfer of more staff to the United States Embassy in Havana with the aim of “To facilitate diplomatic, consular and civil society participation” and also for “security” reasons.

The president also ordered his government to work with the private sector and Congress to do “more accessible“Internet in Cuba, after the breakdown of access to cell phones after the protests.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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