US sanctions Cuban police, threatens to go further

US President Joe Biden has announced that the United States will not hesitate to use other sanctions against Cuban figures.

© Susan Walsh / AP

Text by: RFI Follow

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The United States sanctioned two senior Cuban police officials on Friday, July 30, as well as the entire Revolutionary National Police (PNR).

Joe Biden then indicated that other measures would follow unless there was a "

drastic

 "

change 

in Cuba.

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Asked about additional sanctions, the US president replied, on the sidelines of a meeting at the White House with representatives of Americans of Cuban origin: " 

There will be others, unless there is a drastic change in Cuba." , which I do not expect

 ”.

Access to the financial system prevented

PNR director Oscar Callejas Valcarce and his deputy Eddy Sierra Arias are being sanctioned for their involvement in cracking down on recent protests against the Cuban government, the US Treasury said.

The two men, who are accused of " 

serious human rights violations

 ", are added to the United States' blacklist.

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

"

 The Treasury will continue to sanction and identify by name those who facilitate serious human rights violations by the Cuban regime

 ," noted the director of the Treasury's main sanctions unit, Andrea Gacki.

"

 The measures taken today are intended to hold accountable those responsible for the repression of the Cuban people's calls for freedom and respect for human rights,

 " she added.

►Also read: The United States and its allies call for respect for human rights in Cuba

Unpublished events

On July 11 and 12, thousands of Cubans demonstrated with cries of “

 We are hungry

 ” or “Down with the dictatorship”.

At the end of these demonstrations, the most important since the revolution which brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959, 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 Joe Biden has found himself under increasing pressure from Congress and the large Cuban-American community to take more concrete action.

First wave of sanctions with little impact

The Treasury therefore announced on July 22 a first series of

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.

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.

“ 

We hear your voices.

We are hearing the calls for freedom,

 ”the US president said on Friday, recalling that other support measures were under consideration.

The United States is in particular considering ways to guarantee free internet access on the island.

Washington also wants to ensure that money transfers sent by the Cuban community abroad, which the Americans say are partly diverted by the Cuban military, reach their destination.

►Also read: Report - Troubles in Cuba: the diaspora mobilized in Paris to demand a reaction from the French authorities

(With AFP)

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