US punishes Cuban defense minister for “cracking down” on protests

United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on the Cuban defense minister and to an Interior Ministry unit for “cracking down” on recent popular protests, a move President Joe Biden warned is “just the beginning” of punitive measures against Havana.

The Treasury Department said its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) froze the property and interests of Minister Álvaro López Miera, as well as the Cuban Interior Ministry’s Special National Brigade, for alleged rights violations humans. committed during demonstrations which exploded throughout Cuba on July 11.

“This is just the beginning; The United States will continue to sanction those responsible for the oppression of the Cuban people, ”Biden said.

“The Cuban people demonstrate for fundamental rights and the universals they deserve, ”said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who guaranteed that the US agency will continue to“ strengthen ”“ sanctions against Cuba ”to support citizens in their demand for democracy and relief from the United States. diet.

Cuba, meanwhile, described as “baseless and defamatory” the sanctions announced this Thursday by the United States government against the Minister of the Armed Forces, General Álvaro López-Miera, and an elite military unit known on the island as “black wasps” or “black berets” “.

“Rejection of the unfounded and defamatory sanctions by the #EEUU government against the GCE Álvaro López Miera and the Special National Brigade”, wrote the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodriguez, on his Twitter account.

Events

Cuban citizens took to the streets to express their displeasure at the shortage of basic commodities, such as food and medicine, and members of the international community and NGOs, among others, denounced a harsh crackdown on demonstrators. The Cuban government said it had seen “the worst scenes” of repression and police violence in Europe and denied a “social outbreak”.

The protests were deemed “peaceful” by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the OAS, which, in condemning “state repression and the use of force”, reported at least one death and 151 people detained or whose fate is unknown. He also described various police attacks on members of the press.

The government of former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) In November of last year, he banned sending money to Cuba., a measure with which the United States rapidly increased the economic drowning of the island and which Biden maintained during his first six months in office.

Trump also decided to remove diplomatic staff from the island after accusing the Cuban government without evidence to be responsible mysterious attacks on some officials that occurred between 2016 and 2017.

“We will work closely with our partners across the region, including the Organization of American States, to pressure the regime to immediately release unjustly detained political prisoners, restore internet access and allow Cuban people to enjoy their basic rights, ”Biden said in the note.

Source: EFE and AFP