US imposes visa sanctions on Cuban leader
(MENAFN) The United States has imposed visa restrictions on Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, along with Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera and Interior Minister Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas, citing human rights abuses.
Senator Marco Rubio announced the move on X, accusing the Cuban leadership of corruption and referencing their role in the 2021 crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in Havana. “Four years after the regime’s violent suppression of protesters, the State Department is targeting Cuban officials and their associates responsible for these abuses,” Rubio stated. He also demanded proof of life and the release of all political prisoners.
Cuban authorities have accused the US of exploiting the island’s economic difficulties to incite the 2021 unrest in an effort to destabilize the government.
This latest action follows May sanctions against three Cuban judges and a prosecutor involved in the imprisonment of activist Luis Robles, who was released in 2025 after nearly five years in prison.
Cuba has been under a US trade embargo since the 1960s. President Donald Trump reinstated Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, rolling back efforts by the Obama administration to normalize ties.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry denounced Washington’s actions as “imperialist and interventionist,” with Diaz-Canel declaring that Cuba would continue its revolutionary path despite increasing pressure. Both Russia and China have condemned the US sanctions, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov calling the American embargo "illegal" in a May op-ed published in Cuba’s Granma newspaper.
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