The Department of State announced earlier this year new measures to impose visa restrictions on eight Cuban officials implicated in attempting to silence the voices of the Cuban people through repression, unjust detentions and severe prison sentences.
In a press release from Jan. 6, the U.S. Department of State announced that there would be new visa restrictions put on eight unnamed Cuban officials that were responsible for denying Cubans their freedom and rights through continued intimidation tactics, unjust imprisonment and severe sentences in the aftermath of a peaceful protest in 2021.
"The Department implemented these targeted actions pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 5377, which suspends nonimmigrant entry into the United States of officers and employees of the Cuban government," U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in the press release.
According to the press release, approximately 600 protesters across the island remain jailed following a series of protests on July 11, 2021, with some instates of worsening health conditions and no access to proper food, medicine or calls to their loved ones. The eight Cuban officials included in the visa restrictions were linked to the detention, sentencing, and imprisonment of peaceful July 11 protesters.
In order to implement the new visa restrictions, the Department of State applied the targeted actions to the Presidential Proclamation 5377, a proclamation put into action by President Reagan following the continuing failure of the Government of Cuba to resume normal migration procedures with the US which when invoked, suspends nonimmigrant entry into the United States of officers and employees of the Cuban government. Through the new restrictions, the U.S. State Department hopes to underscore its commitment to supporting the Cuban people and enforcing accountability for Cuban officials who have been instrumental in enabling the current regime’s affront to democracy and human rights, according to the press release.
