US sanctions Cuban president four years after historic protests
Other officials sanctioned included Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera and Interior Minister Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez slammed the latest measures on X, saying that US President Donald Trump's administration cannot "bend the will of its people or its leaders."
The State Department also added the "Torre K," a 42-story hotel in Havana, to its restricted list of entities "to prevent U.S. dollars from funding the Cuban regime's repression."
The establishment, recently inaugurated in a central area of the Cuban capital, sparked criticism of the government's huge investment in new hotels at a time when tourism is declining.
"While the Cuban people suffer shortages of food, water, medicine, and electricity, the regime lavishes money on its insiders," Rubio said.
Rubio also took to X to accuse Cuba of torturing dissident leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, four years after the government crushed massive protests.
"The United States demands immediate proof of life and the release of all political prisoners," Rubio said.
Hundreds of people were arrested in the July 2021 demonstrations, the largest since the Cuban revolution in the 1950s.
They resulted in one death and dozens of wounded.
Ferrer, leader of the dissident group Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), was among 553 prisoners released in January after former US president Joe Biden agreed to remove the island from the blacklist of countries sponsoring terrorism.
But at the end of April, his parole was revoked, prompting criticism from Washington, which has put Cuba back on the blacklist after Trump returned to power.
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France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
US sanctions Cuban President and others for human rights violations
The United States announced its first sanctions on Friday against Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel for his role "in the Cuban regime's brutality toward the Cuban people." It is the latest in a series of measures by US President Donald Trump 's administration to increase pressure on the Cuban government. The United States was restricting visas for the Cuban president and other high-ranking government officials, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an X post on the fourth anniversary of historic anti-government protests in Cuba. Demonstrations rocked the island in July 2021 as thousands took to the streets to protest shortages of basic goods and worsening economic conditions. Hundreds were arrested, one person died and dozens were injured in the lagest protests since Fidel Castro 's 1959 communist revolution. The State Department said it was sanctioning "key regime leaders... for their involvement in gross violations of human rights." Officials sanctioned included Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera and Interior Minister Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas. The United States was also taking steps to sanction Cuban judicial and prison officials linked to the "unjust detention and torture of July 2021 protestors." "While the Cuban people suffer shortages of food, water, medicine, and electricity, the regime lavishes money on its insiders," Rubio said. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez slammed the measures on X, saying the United States cannot "bend the will of its people or its leaders." Johana Tablada, deputy director of the US department in the Cuban Foreign Ministry, lashed out at Rubio, calling him a 'defender of genocide, prisons and mass deportations.' In May, the Cuban foreign ministry summoned the US envoy to Havana to protest his "interference" in the country's internal affairs. The United States has a six-decade-old trade blockade in place against Cuba. Political prisoners Rubio took to X to accuse Cuba of torturing dissident leader Jose Daniel Ferrer and demand "proof of life." "The United States demands immediate proof of life and the release of all political prisoners," Rubio said. According to the United States, 700 people are still imprisoned for taking part in the July 2021 protests. Human rights organizations put the number at between 360 and 420. Some of the convicted protesters have been released in recent months after serving their sentences. Others, including Ferrer -- leader of the dissident group Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) -- were released as part of a Vatican-mediated agreement in January after former US president Joe Biden removed the island from the blacklist of countries sponsoring terrorism. 09:07 But at the end of April, Ferrer's parole was revoked, prompting criticism from Washington, which has put Cuba back on the blacklist after Trump returned to power. The State Department also added the "Torre K," a 42-story hotel in Havana, to its restricted list of entities off-limits to Americans, "to prevent US dollars from funding the Cuban regime's repression." The establishment, recently inaugurated in a central area of the Cuban capital, sparked criticism of the government's huge investment in new hotels at a time when tourism is declining.
France 24
10 hours ago
- France 24
US sanctions Cuban president four years after historic protests
The US State Department was "restricting visas" for the president and other high-ranking government officials, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an X post on the fourth anniversary of historic anti-government protests in Cuba. Other officials sanctioned included Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera and Interior Minister Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez slammed the latest measures on X, saying that US President Donald Trump's administration cannot "bend the will of its people or its leaders." The State Department also added the "Torre K," a 42-story hotel in Havana, to its restricted list of entities "to prevent U.S. dollars from funding the Cuban regime's repression." The establishment, recently inaugurated in a central area of the Cuban capital, sparked criticism of the government's huge investment in new hotels at a time when tourism is declining. "While the Cuban people suffer shortages of food, water, medicine, and electricity, the regime lavishes money on its insiders," Rubio said. Rubio also took to X to accuse Cuba of torturing dissident leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, four years after the government crushed massive protests. "The United States demands immediate proof of life and the release of all political prisoners," Rubio said. Hundreds of people were arrested in the July 2021 demonstrations, the largest since the Cuban revolution in the 1950s. They resulted in one death and dozens of wounded. Ferrer, leader of the dissident group Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), was among 553 prisoners released in January after former US president Joe Biden agreed to remove the island from the blacklist of countries sponsoring terrorism. But at the end of April, his parole was revoked, prompting criticism from Washington, which has put Cuba back on the blacklist after Trump returned to power.
France 24
11 hours ago
- France 24
US State Department begins mass layoffs
Diplomats and other staff clapped out departing colleagues in emotional scenes at the Washington headquarters of the department, which runs US foreign policy and the global network of embassies. Some were crying as they walked out with boxes of belongings. A State Department official said 1,107 members of the civil service and 246 Foreign Service diplomatic employees were terminated. The layoffs at the department came three days after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to begin carrying out its plan to gut entire government departments. The conservative-dominated top court lifted a temporary block imposed by a lower court on Trump's plans to lay off potentially tens of thousands of employees. The 79-year-old Republican says he wants to dismantle what he calls the "deep state." Since taking office in January, he has worked quickly to install fierce personal loyalists and to fire swaths of veteran government workers. His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, says the foreign policy department is too cumbersome and requires thinning out of some 15 percent. The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) -- the union representing State Department employees -- condemned the "catastrophic blow to our national interests." "At a moment of great global instability -- with war raging in Ukraine, conflict between Israel and Iran, and authoritarian regimes testing the boundaries of international order -- the United States has chosen to gut its frontline diplomatic workforce," AFSA said in a statement. "We oppose this decision in the strongest terms." The State Department employed over 80,000 people worldwide last year, according to a fact sheet, with around 17,700 in domestic roles. The US Agency for International Development, long the primary vehicle to provide US humanitarian assistance around the world, has already been mostly dismantled. According to The Washington Post, State Department employees were informed of their firings by email. Foreign Service officers will lose their jobs 120 days after receiving the notice and will be immediately placed on administrative leave, while civil service employees will be separated after 60 days, the newspaper said. Ned Price, who served as State Department spokesman under Democratic former president Joe Biden, condemned what he called haphazard firings. "For all the talk about 'merit-based,' they're firing officers based on where they happen to be assigned on this arbitrary day," Price said on X. "It's the laziest, most inefficient, and most damaging way to lean the workforce." Former ambassador Barbara Leaf, Biden's top Middle East diplomat, said the move "will have terrible consequences for our ability to protect American citizens abroad, pursue and defend the national interest and our national security." "This is not a re-org. This is a purge," Leaf said in a post on LinkedIn.
