US imposes visa ban on 28 Cuban officials over crackdown on July 2021 protests

Washington [US], July 10 (ANI)

The United States has introduced visa restrictions on 28 Cuban officials, including Cuban government employees and high-ranking members of the Cuban Communist Party, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday.

"The Department of State has taken steps to impose visa restrictions on 28 Cuban officials pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 5377, which suspends nonimmigrant entry into the United States of officers and employees of the Cuban government and Cuban Communist Party," the statement read. Those 28 officials include officials involved in the alleged crackdown on the protests of July 11, 2021. Among them are high-ranking members of the Cuban Communist Party responsible for defining policy at the national and provincial levels, according to the statement.

"Instead of ensuring the safety of the Cuban people and respect for their freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly, these officials permitted or facilitated violent and unjust detentions, sham trials, and prison sentences spanning decades for hundreds of protesters," the statement added.

The new restriction supplements previous US policies "to promote accountability for Cuban officials who enable their government's assaults on democracy and human rights," such as three rounds of visa restrictions imposed by the US Department of State since November 2021 and four rounds of financial sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department since July 2021.

"Also covered are multiple officials who work in the state communications and media sectors who formulate and implement policies that restrict Cubans' ability to freely access and share information and who engage in the spread of disinformation. The Cuban government-employed Internet throttling on July 11, 2021, to both prevent the Cuban people from communicating with each other and keep the world from witnessing the historic events that day," Blinken said.

He further said state media officials continue to engage in a campaign against jailed July 11, 2021, protesters and their family members who speak publicly about their loved ones' cases.

Earlier this month, the US imposed visa restrictions on five Cuban government officials in connection with human rights abuses including unfair trials and jailings.

"The Department of State has taken steps to impose visa restrictions on five Cuban officials pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 5377, which suspends nonimmigrant entry into the United States of officers and employees of the Cuban government," Blinken said on Thursday.

"These five officials are connected to unfair trials and unjust sentencing and imprisonment of peaceful July 11, 2021, protesters. This announcement of visa restrictions comes in response to the actions of Cuban government officials that deny Cubans their basic human rights and fundamental freedoms."