(Photo by Gary Raynaldo  / ©Diplomatic Times) Vintage American car in Havana, Cuba.

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

The United States announced Thursday the State Department imposed visa restrictions on eight Cuban officials in the aftermath of  the government’s crackdown on demonstrators last July. The eight individuals include Cuban officials connected to the detention, sentencing, and imprisonment of peaceful July 11 protesters, the State Department said. 

“Due to harsh and unjust sentences handed down to peaceful protesters, the Department of State today took steps to impose visa restrictions on eight Cuban officials implicated in attempts to silence the voices of the Cuban people through repression, unjust detentions, and harsh prison sentences.”

-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken

After the July protests,  Cuban activists planned  a second massive nationwide “Civic March for Change,”  rally for November 15 to protest the “lack of freedom”  under socialist party rule. The rally fizzled as Cuban police and government supporters surrounded key activists’ homes, and detained many protestors.  Protest organizers called on  Cubans to take to the streets like tens of thousands did this past July to demand  changes in the government, but very few turned out. 

600 protesters across Cuba  remain jailed after the July 11 protests

Approximately 600 protesters across the island remain jailed after the July 11 protests, some with worsening health conditions and no access to proper food, medicine, or calls to their loved ones, the State Department said.    “The United States continues to use all appropriate diplomatic and economic tools to push for the release of political prisoners and to support the Cuban people’s call for greater freedom and accountability,”  Secretary of State Blinken.