- The measures also affect the Ministers of the Interior and the Armed Forces and restrict the entry into the US of their relatives.
- Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez says that Washington “does not have the capacity to bend the will of the people or its leaders.”
EFE/14ymedio, Washington/Havana, 11 July 2025 — The United States government imposed sanctions on Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel this Friday for his direct responsibility in “serious human rights violations” after ordering the repression of the 11 July 2021 Island-wide social outburst (’11J’). The measure, announced by the State Department, marks the first time that the Cuban president – hand-picked by Raúl Castro and head of the Communist Party – is subject to personal sanctions from Washington for having unleashed a brutal repression after announcing, four years ago on national television, that “the order of combat has been given.”
The restrictions also affect the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Álvaro López Miera, and the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas. All of them, including their immediate family members, are prohibited from entering the United States.
The sanctions are imposed under a section of the State Department Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2025
“The United States will never forget the tenacity of the Cuban people four years ago in demanding freedom and a future free from tyranny,” a senior State Department official told the Miami Herald. According to the official statement, sanctions are imposed under a section of the State Department’s Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2025 that denies entry to foreign officials involved in significant corruption or human rights violations.
Díaz-Canel, who had so far avoided personal sanctions despite repeated condemnations of the Cuban regime for repression and censorship, thus becomes the highest official sanctioned by the US since the 11J protests. Until this Friday, the measures had been addressed to police, military leaders, and prosecutors, but not to the president.
For its part, the regime dismissed the sanctions and said that Washington “has no capacity to crush” the Cuban people and their leaders. “The US is capable of imposing migratory sanctions against revolutionary leaders and maintaining a prolonged and ruthless economic war against Cuba,” denounced the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, on the social network X.
The action coincides with a new wave of repression on the eve of the anniversary of the protests. In municipalities such as San Antonio de los Baños -where the uprising began in 2021- several demonstrators released from prison have been harassed, threatened and subjected to police surveillance. Arrests and strong street surveillance are also reported in many provinces.
The US visa restrictions announced this Friday also affect judicial and prison officials who are “responsible for or accomplices of unjust detention and torture” of the demonstrators. For confidentiality, their names were not disclosed.
Among those now included are luxury hotels recently opened in Havana, such as the controversial Torre K
As part of the new sanctions package, the State Department also added 11 Cuban hotels to its Prohibited Accommodation List, which includes facilities controlled by the Gaesa military conglomerate. Among those now included are luxury hotels recently opened in Havana, such as the controversial Torre K [Tower K], managed by the Spanish Iberostar, whose construction was widely criticized for coinciding with the food and health crisis of the country.
Since the outbreak of the 11J protests, more than 1,400 people have been arrested according to human rights organizations, and 421 are still serving long sentences, while hundreds more live under constant harassment. The international community has repeatedly denounced the use of fabricated charges, summary trials and inhuman conditions in Cuban prisons.
“The Cuban regime must know that the cost of repression is not forgotten and does not disappear,” said the US official. “These sanctions are a clear message: those who commit abuses will pay a price.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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