Today, Friday, the United States classified China, Iran and Russia among the "countries of concern" under the Religious Freedom Act, and included Cuba, Nicaragua and the Russian "Wagner" group on its blacklist related to religious freedoms, which opens the way for the possibility of imposing sanctions on them.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said - in a statement - that violations of religious freedom "sow divisions, undermine economic security and threaten political stability and peace," adding that his country "will not stand idly by in the face of these violations."
Blinken indicated that the Wagner Group was included in the list because of its involvement in abuses in the Central African Republic, which witnessed fighting that lasted for nearly a decade between Christians and Muslims.
The US administration added the Central African Republic and Vietnam to the list of countries subject to surveillance, which means that they will be classified as "countries of particular concern".
With regard to Cuba, the US State Department referred in its latest annual report on religious freedom to "increasing harassment of Christians" there, and to acts of violence and arrests targeting religious figures on the background of their supposed role in protests that the country rarely witnesses.
In Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega launched a "security campaign targeting the Catholic Church" since he accused it of supporting demonstrations that took place in 2018 against his government, and it was suppressed by a campaign in which hundreds were killed, according to Agence France-Presse.