(Photo by  Gary Raynaldo /  ©Diplomatic  Times) Banner of Ernesto “Che” Guevara in front of shop in Havana, Cuba.

By  Gary  Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

The United States on Friday slapped additional sanctions on Cuban military and security leaders in response to the Cuban regime’s “continued violent suppression of freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly”  following  protests in Cuba.    This is the fourth round of sanctions imposed following the July unrest.   On July 22, Biden’s Treasury Department slapped sanctions on a top Cuban military official and a government special forces unit.    The  U.S.  designated Andres Laureano Gonzalez Brito, Chief of the Central Army under the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR); Roberto Legra Sotolongo, Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Chief of the Directorate of Operations under MINFAR; and Abelardo Jimenez Gonzalez, Chief of the Directorate of Penitentiary Establishments of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT).  We are taking this action pursuant to Executive Order 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. 

“The Treasury Department will continue to hold accountable those who enable the Cuban government to perpetuate human rights abuse. Today’s action exposes additional perpetrators responsible for suppressing the Cuban people’s calls for freedom and respect for human rights.”

-said Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, Andrea M. Gacki.

Just last week,  the Treasury Department OFAC announced sanctions against Romarico Vidal Sotomayor Garcia and Pedro Orlando Martinez Fernandez (Martinez) of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT); and the Tropas de Prevencion (TDP) of the Cuban Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR).  In addition to the sanctions imposed today under the Global Magnitsky program, OFAC continues to enforce the Cuba sanctions program, the Treasury Department said    OFAC administers an economic embargo on Cuba that prohibits persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction from engaging in transactions involving property in which Cuba or a Cuban national has an interest.

Cuban Security Forces Have Detained More than 800 people in Response to July Protests :  U.S. Treasury Department 

Treasury Department said since the beginning of the July 2021 protests in Cuba, the Cuban regime has used security forces to suppress peaceful demonstrators.  Legra is the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and Chief of the Directorate of Operations of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), under MINFAR, which deployed the Tropas de Prevencion (TDP), a military police unit, in response to the demonstrations.  OFAC previously designated the TDP pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Alvaro Lopez Miera, Minister of the FAR.  Gonzalez is the Chief of the Central Army, also under MINFAR.

Jimenez is the Chief of the Directorate of Penitentiary Establishments, under MININT; in this role, he is responsible for the treatment and disposition of people imprisoned in Cuba.  Cuban security forces have detained more than 800 people in response to the protests, with many being held in “preventative jail,” and the whereabouts of multiple people still unknown.  Once in jail, many are prosecuted by Cuban authorities in summary trials, with simplified procedures and often without the chance of hiring a defense lawyer.  Dozens of people have already been sentenced to up to a year in prison or correctional work as a result of summary trials, the Treasury Department said. 

CUBA Says U.S. Has No “Moral Authority” To Impose Sanctions on FAR and MININT Officials

The US government has no moral authority to impose sanctions on high officers of FAR and MININT.

I reject US adamant efforts to attack #Cuba and Cubans and tighten the economic blockade.

— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) August 20, 2021