Because of the human rights situation: More US sanctions against Cuba

US President Biden has now imposed more sanctions due to the crackdown on protesters by the Cuban authorities. Washington froze several accounts of Cuban government officials and announced that it would increase pressure.

The US government imposed new sanctions on Cuba after mass protests. The White House said the current minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Alvaro Lopez Meira, and the administration of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior that promotes the suppression of protests, have been affected. Lopez Mira “played an instrumental role in suppressing the ongoing protests in Cuba,” according to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Increased pressure from the United States

The US Treasury said that due to the freezing of the assets of the Cuban Defense Minister and the funds of the Special National Brigade of the Special Unit (SNB), US citizens and companies are no longer able to do business with Lopez Meira or the unit in question. .

US President Joe Biden condemned the “mass arrests and sham trials” targeting “those who dare to express their opinions.” He declared that he would increase pressure on the government to release “political prisoners who are being held without justification,” restore access to the Internet and guarantee Cubans’ basic rights.

“The right to freedom of expression”

“The Cuban people have the same right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly as all people,” Biden said. The United States stands with the “brave Cubans.” This is just the beginning – the United States continues to punish those responsible for the oppression of the Cuban people.

Sanctions are based on a decree targeting perpetrators of gross human rights violations and corruption around the world, and include, for example, freezing of property. The US government reiterated that it is still studying whether restrictions on sending money to the island are possible under certain circumstances.

Brutal behavior by the authorities

Recently, thousands spontaneously took to the streets in many Cuban cities for freedom, against oppression, and the economy of scarcity. There have been no such protests in the Caribbean nation for decades. The Cuban economy is suffering severely from the decline in tourism due to the pandemic as well as from US sanctions. There is a shortage of electricity, food and medicine.

According to activists, the Cuban authorities cracked down on the demonstrators. More than a hundred people were arrested. A 36-year-old man died at a demonstration in the outskirts of Havana.