The United States on Thursday July 22 imposed primarily symbolic financial sanctions on the Cuban Defense Minister for the "repression" of recent "peaceful demonstrations and pro-democracy" in Cuba, while threatening new punitive measures.

"This is just the start. The United States will continue to sanction those responsible for the oppression against the Cuban people," President Joe Biden warned in a statement, "unambiguously condemning the mass arrests and the sham of lawsuits "targeting" those who dare to speak ".

He promised to "put pressure on the regime to immediately release political prisoners unjustly detained, restore internet access and allow Cubans to enjoy their basic rights."

A hundred arrests

To cries of "We are hungry" or "Down with the dictatorship", protests took place on July 11 on the Communist island and continued sporadically the following day.

At the end of these rallies, which left one dead and dozens injured, around 100 people were arrested, according to various opposition organizations.

Washington immediately strongly condemned this crackdown and supported the demonstrators, promising to help the Cubans.

But President Biden has found himself under increasing pressure from the United States Congress and the large community of Cuban Americans to take more concrete action.

The Treasury therefore announced on Thursday targeted financial sanctions against Cuban Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera and the "black berets", a special unit of the Interior Ministry deployed during the demonstrations to "suppress or attack" the participants.

Their possible assets in the United States will be frozen and access to the American financial system is henceforth barred to them.

But the impact of these sanctions, which come on top of those, much more general, which have already targeted the Caribbean island for decades, is very limited - especially since the Ministry of the Interior as a whole was already on the American blacklist.

Money and diplomats

Asked about this symbolic significance, the spokesman for American diplomacy Ned Price admitted that it was "largely to send a message".

And, like Joe Biden, he insisted that the United States would "continue to examine" measures to "hold those responsible for the repression to account".

"The Cuban people demonstrate for the fundamental and universal rights that their government must guarantee," said US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, saying she would continue to apply sanctions against the island to support "their quest. of democracy ".

Cuba denounced "unfounded and slanderous" sanctions.

US authorities should be more concerned with the "daily acts of repression and police violence that claimed 1,021 lives in 2020" in the United States, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez tweeted.

Obstacles

Beyond the sanctions, and to reach out to Cubans, Joe Biden confirmed that his government was considering allowing money transfers from individuals to Cuba and pledged to increase the staffing of the US embassy- United in Havana to "provide consular services to Cubans" - which could eventually translate into US visas for those who wish to leave the country.

But these two measures come up against thorny obstacles. The "remesas", these transfers of money to Cubans by their relatives in the United States, will only be authorized if Washington finds the "tools, tactics and procedures" to prevent the funds from going "into the coffers of the government. Cuban ", warned Ned Price, acknowledging that such a solution was not obvious. No timetable has been set for the working group responsible for working on the issue.

As for diplomatic reinforcements, "a priority", the State Department also refused to provide a deadline, because it is first necessary to ensure their safety, in a country where the "Havana syndrome first appeared. ", mysterious" health incidents "targeting American diplomats.

These still unexplained phenomena, initially presented as "acoustic attacks", had triggered the recall of most American diplomats under the presidency of Donald Trump.

With AFP

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