President Joe Biden convened a meeting with Cuban-American leaders at the White House on Friday to address the biggest protests in decades that erupted in Cuba earlier this month.
In reaction to the violence against protesters, the administration announced sanctions against a Cuban police unit and its commanders on the same day as the meeting. Additional sanctions may be applied, Biden warned the group.
US sanctions on Cuban police
The protests provide Biden with a political dilemma as Republicans accuse Democrats of being soft on the communist leadership. Because of its huge Cuban-American community, the issue has long resonated in Florida, a critical battleground state.
Biden also referenced recent US sanctions on Cuban police and military forces suspected of being complicit in the disappearance of indigenous demonstrators. He also stated that the US intends to assist in restoring internet connection on the island, despite allegations that the Cuban government has blocked citizen access.
Cubans came to the streets earlier this month in a historical expression of the people's will, and the dictatorship retaliated with violence and persecution, mass imprisonment, and fake trials. The people who have spoken up are just disappearing, as per Newsweek.
Biden called Cuba's handling of demonstrations "intolerable" and predicted that the new sanctions would target the island's police. However, Biden's message was only disseminated on a limited scale. The White House did not present reporters with a list of Cuban-Americans who attended the event on Friday afternoon and did not put up a live video stream.
According to the Treasury Department, former President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on the entire Cuban Interior Ministry, including the brigade, in January. Those sanctions do not appear to have been removed by Biden. It's unclear why Biden decided not to impose sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Dáz-Canel, who branded the demonstrators "counter-revolutionary mercenaries" and oversaw the crackdown earlier this month.
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Critics urged Joe Biden to do more about the Cuba crisis
During the repression of protests, critics have urged the president to do more. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told The New York Post last week that Republicans are considering legislation to force the president's hand.
Biden has stated that the US is looking into the possibility of evading a Cuban government-imposed internet shutdown as information about protests cannot be distributed due to a lack of internet connection.
In response to the protests, the Biden administration says it is considering a variety of additional options, including providing internet access to Cubans and forming a working group to review US remittance policy to ensure that more of the money sent home by Cuban Americans reaches their families without the government taking a cut.
The discussion at the White House comes almost three weeks after thousands of Cubans took to the streets in Havana and other cities on July 11 to protest power outages, shortages, and government policies. These were the first protests of their worst since the 1990s.
According to the Treasury Department, the Cuban regime used the PNR to target protesters. The Treasury claims members of the Movement of July 11 Mothers, an organization formed to organize the imprisoned and missing families, were seen confronting and detaining demonstrators in Havana.
A Catholic priest was assaulted and arrested by the PNR in Camagüey while supporting young protesters. PNR cops also attacked several innocent protesters, including many kids; and there have been recorded instances of the PNR using clubs to suppress peaceful rallies around Cuba, Daily Mail reported.
Related Article: Protesters Descend Outside White House, Accuse Joe Biden of Supporting Communism Amid Cuba Crisis
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