Latest news with #TorreK
Scoop
7 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Justice For The Cuban People On The Fourth Anniversary Of The July 11 Protests
July 11, 2025 Four years ago, thousands of Cubans peacefully took to the streets to demand a future free from tyranny. The Cuban regime responded with violence and repression, unjustly detaining thousands, including over 700 who are still imprisoned and subjected to torture or abuse. Today, the Department of State is taking steps to implement President Trump's strengthened Cuba policy outlined in National Security Presidential Memorandum-5 from June 30, 2025. In solidarity with the Cuban people and the island's political prisoners, the United States is designating key regime leaders under Section 7031(c) for their involvement in gross violations of human rights. We are also taking steps to impose visa restrictions on numerous Cuban judicial and prison officials responsible for, or complicit in, the unjust detention and torture of July 2021 protestors. In addition, the Department is updating the Cuba Restricted List and the Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List to include 11 regime-linked properties, including the new 42-story 'Torre K' hotel, to prevent U.S. funds from reaching the island's corrupt repressors. The U.S. will continue to stand for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Cuba, and make clear no illegitimate, dictatorial regimes are welcome in our hemisphere. The designations of Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, López Miera, Álvarez Casas, and their immediate family members are made under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024 (Div. F, P.L. 118-47), as carried forward by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2025 (Div. A, P.L. 119-4). The steps to impose visa restrictions on Cuban officials are taken under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Al Jazeera
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
US sanctions Cuban president, ‘regime-controlled' luxury hotels
The US State Department has imposed sanctions on senior Cuban officials, including President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced as he marked the fourth anniversary of a brutal crackdown on historic antigovernment protests. In a post on X, Rubio said the State Department would be 'restricting visas for Cuban regime figureheads', including President Diaz-Canel, Defence Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera, Interior Minister Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas, and their 'cronies' for their 'role in the Cuban regime's brutality toward the Cuban people'. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, also announced that the State Department has added the Torre K hotel to its restricted list of entities in order to 'prevent US dollars from funding the Cuban regime's repression'. The Cuban government has promoted the luxury high-rise Torre K in central Havana as a symbol of modernisation. But the government has faced criticism for its large investment in luxury hotels amid a severe economic crisis in the nominally socialist one-party state. 'While the Cuban people suffer shortages of food, water, medicine, and electricity, the regime lavishes money on its insiders,' Rubio said. Ten other 'regime-linked properties' were also added to the State Department's List of Prohibited Accommodations, it said in a statement. The statement said the sanctions were being enacted in 'solidarity with the Cuban people and the island's political prisoners', citing the Cuban government's brutal crackdown on the July 2021 demonstrations – the largest since the Cuban revolution in the 1950s. The police crackdown resulted in one death and dozens of wounded protesters. 'Four years ago, thousands of Cubans peacefully took to the streets to demand a future free from tyranny. The Cuban regime responded with violence and repression, unjustly detaining thousands, including over 700 who are still imprisoned and subjected to torture or abuse,' the State Department said. Rubio also accused Cuba of torturing pro-democracy activist Jose Daniel Ferrer, whose bail was revoked as he was taken into custody alongside fellow dissident Felix Navarro in April. 'The United States demands immediate proof of life and the release of all political prisoners,' Rubio said. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez slammed the latest measures as part of a 'ruthless economic war' being waged by the administration of US President Donald Trump. 'The USA is capable of imposing migratory sanctions against revolutionary leaders and maintaining a prolonged and ruthless economic war against Cuba, but it lacks the ability to break the will of these people or their leaders,' he said on X. In January, then-US President Joe Biden had removed Cuba from the blacklist of countries sponsoring terrorism. But Trump returned the country to the blacklist immediately after returning to the White House as he resumed his 'maximum pressure' campaign against Cuba that typified his foreign policy during his first term.
The Hindu
11-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
U.S. sanctions Cuban President four years after historic protests
The United States on Friday (Jully 11, 2025) announced for the first time sanctions against Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel for his role "in the Cuban regime's brutality toward the Cuban people." The U.S. State Department was "restricting visas" for the President and other high-ranking government officials, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an X post on the fourth anniversary of historic anti-government protests in Cuba. Other officials sanctioned included Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera and Interior Minister Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas. Also read: Final blow: On U.S. policy reversal on Cuba Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez slammed the latest measures on X, saying that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration cannot "bend the will of its people or its leaders." The State Department also added the "Torre K," a 42-story hotel in Havana, to its restricted list of entities "to prevent U.S. dollars from funding the Cuban regime's repression." The establishment, recently inaugurated in a central area of the Cuban capital, sparked criticism of the government's huge investment in new hotels at a time when tourism is declining. "While the Cuban people suffer shortages of food, water, medicine, and electricity, the regime lavishes money on its insiders," Mr. Rubio said. Mr. Rubio also took to X to accuse Cuba of torturing dissident leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, four years after the government crushed massive protests. "The United States demands immediate proof of life and the release of all political prisoners," Mr. Rubio said. Hundreds of people were arrested in the July 2021 demonstrations, the largest since the Cuban revolution in the 1950s. They resulted in one death and dozens of wounded. Ferrer, leader of the dissident group Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), was among 553 prisoners released in January after former U.S. president Joe Biden agreed to remove the island from the blacklist of countries sponsoring terrorism. But at the end of April, his parole was revoked, prompting criticism from Washington, which has put Cuba back on the blacklist after Mr. Trump returned to power.
