US restricts visas to Cuban officials

The US State Department announced visa restrictions Saturday against 28 Cuban officials it said were implicated in the crackdown on peaceful protests in Cuba nearly a year ago.

In a statement, the department said the restrictions would apply to high-ranking members of Cuba’s Communist Party and officials working in the country’s state media and communications sectors.

Also read: On the eve of 11J, the activist Yunior García reveals “the abusive face of the regime” in Cuba.

The State Department accused party officials of setting policies that subjected hundreds of people involved in the July 11, 2021, protests to violent and unjust arrests, sham trials, and prison sentences of decades.

The demonstrations were the largest anti-government protests seen in decades on the communist-led island. The Cuban government also used “internet throttling” to prevent people in Cuba from communicating with each other and to block communications with the outside world, the department said.

“State media officials continue to engage in a campaign against jailed protesters on July 11, 2021, and their family members who speak publicly about the cases of their loved ones,” the State Department said.

Washington imposed the visa restrictions under a Reagan-era policy that suspended the entry of non-immigrants to the United States by officials and employees of the Cuban government and the Cuban Communist Party.

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