Arkansas Online

U.S. issues sanctions over Cuba abuses

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced new sanctions Thursday against a Cuban official and a government special brigade that it says was involved in human rights abuses during a government crackdown on protests on the island earlier this month.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control listed Alvaro Lopez Miera, a Cuban military and political leader, and the Interior Ministry Special Brigade, as among those who will face the latest sanctions.

Earlier this month, thousands of Cubans took to the streets in Havana and other cities across the island to protest food shortages and high prices during the coronavirus crisis.

Treasury said in a statement that Lopez Miera “has played an integral role in the repression of ongoing protests in Cuba.” Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, which is led by Lopez Miera, and other Cuban government security services attacked protesters and arrested or caused to disappear more than 100 protesters to suppress the protests, according to Treasury.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez immediately took to Twitter to call the sanctions “baseless and slanderous” and suggested that Biden apply the sanctions on himself “for acts of everyday repression and police brutality” in the U.S.

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2021-07-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-07-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://edition.arkansasonline.com/article/281642488197139

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