The Biden administration imposed new sanctions against two top Cuban officials and the Cuban National Revolutionary Police for their role in the crackdown against anti-government protesters in Cuba.
The announcement came right before President Joe Biden hosted Cuban-American leaders, including Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Manny Diaz, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, at the White House Friday afternoon to discuss the sanctions and other aspects of the U.S. response the regime’s violent suppression of peaceful protests.
The Treasury actions against two Cuban police force officials, Oscar Callejas Valcarcel and Eddy Sierra Arias, were in response to “actions to suppress peaceful, pro-democratic protests in Cuba that began on July 11,” according to the U.S. Treasury Dept. statement.
“The Treasury Department will continue to designate and call out by name those who facilitate the Cuban regime’s involvement in serious human rights abuse,” said Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control Andrea M. Gacki in a press release on Friday. “Today’s action serves to further hold accountable those responsible for suppressing the Cuban people’s calls for freedom and respect for human rights.”
