United States to sanction perpetrators of crackdown on protests in Cuba

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The U.S. government on Wednesday announced that it will implement sanctions against Cuban regime officials “responsible for the brutal repression” against protesters opposing the dictatorship, while it studies the steps to be taken to assist the Cuban people.

“We are going to focus on applying strong sanctions against regime officials responsible for the brutal repression,” Tweeted Julie Chung, the acting assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

She stressed that the members of the dictatorship who directed the violence “must be held accountable,” and she will also seek greater engagement from the international community in this respect. “We must collectively condemn the violence and repression against the Cuban people for demanding freedom,” she added.

The official also said that measures are being discussed regarding the sending of remittances so that they will not “fall into the hands of the oppressors” and rather reach “directly the pockets of the Cuban people.”

In addition, the U.S. diplomacy said it is trying to facilitate internet access which was cut off by the authorities after the protests erupted in order to prevent the coordination of new opposition groups. “We are working with the private sector and Congress to find ways to make the internet more accessible to the Cuban people,” Chung added.

The Department of State announced its intention to increase diplomatic personnel on the island. “A strong and adequately staffed embassy is critical to our efforts in supporting the Cuban people,” she said, adding that requests to export humanitarian or medical supplies will be expedited. “We encourage our international partners to increase humanitarian assistance to Cubans,” she said.

If implemented, these measures would be the first significant policy changes in Cuba under President Joe Biden who has expressed solidarity with demonstrators after the protests that erupted on July 11 amid the communist island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

The embassy in Havana, closed in 1961 after the revolution led by Fidel Castro and converted into an Interests Section in 1977, reopened upon the resumption of relations between the two countries on July 20, 2015 within the framework of the rapprochement fostered by former Democratic President Barack Obama, of whom Biden was vice president.

But subsequently the embassy was reduced to a minimum under Donald Trump’s presidency after mysterious “sonic attacks” against diplomats.

Trump, who tightened the economic embargo the United States has enforced on Cuba since 1962 in order to push for a regime change, also suspended the formal transfer of money to the island.

During his election campaign, Biden proposed to reauthorize remittances but last week said he would not do so now because “it is very likely that the regime will confiscate these remittances or a large part of them.”

Thousands of Cubans took to the streets across the island on Sunday, July 11, in unprecedented demonstrations that left one dead and hundreds arrested, among them activists, political opponents and independent journalists.

Source: Infobae