Cuba slams fresh US curbs against island

HAVANA/WASHINGTON - Cuba on Thursday denounced the latest sanctions imposed by the United States against the island.

"I refute the unfounded and slanderous US government sanctions against Army Corp General Alvaro Lopez Miera and the Special National Brigade," Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez posted on Twitter.

"I denounce that the US State Department is exercising offensive and humiliating pressures on European countries, particularly 6 from Eastern Europe, and 8 from Latin America, to force them to support a declaration condemning Cuba," he added.

Earlier in the day, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against Miera, Cuba's defense minister, and an elite military unit popularly known as the "black wasps" for their participation in the "rebuke" of protests this month in Cuba.

US President Joe Biden warned that the step is "just the beginning" of punitive measures against Havana.

The sanctions freeze the assets and interests of Miera and the SNB in the US, as well as prohibit any US citizen, resident or entity from engaging with them financially.

The move came amid the worst outbreak of COVID-19 Cuba has seen, with a rise in infections, deaths and hospitalizations.

The US sanctions were imposed under the Magnitsky Act, which allows a US president to take action against human rights abuses and corruption.

Cuba pushed back swiftly, calling the sanctions "slanderous" and saying the US should focus more on repression and police brutality on its own soil.

"I reject unfounded and slanderous sanctions by the US government" against the Cubans targeted, Rodriguez, the Cuban foreign minister, said on Twitter.

Biden said Washington was considering multiple new steps.

Washington is working closely with regional partners "to pressure the regime to immediately release wrongfully detained political prisoners, restore internet access and allow the Cuban people to enjoy their fundamental rights," he said.

Strained relations

On July 11 and 12, thousands of Cubans took to the streets in 40 cities shouting "Freedom" and "We're hungry". Official data showed dozens of people were injured by demonstrators during the unrest.

The demonstrations have further strained an already tense relationship between Washington and Havana.

On July 17, tens of thousands of government supporters rallied in Havana streets to denounce the riots, accusing Washington of seeking to justify a military intervention.

On July 12, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said that the US was promoting social upheaval in the Caribbean nation.

Cuba has seen a whiplash in US policy in recent years, with Barack Obama normalizing relations at the end of his presidency, declaring that a half-century of efforts to topple the Cuban government had failed, and then his successor Donald Trump reimposing sweeping economic pressure.

Biden as president had exhibited a go-slow approach to Cuba, but the unrest has thrust the relationship into the spotlight.