U.S. hits Cuba with new sanctions

The Biden administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on a Cuban military official and a government special brigade. The Treasury Department said Alvaro Lopez Miera, who leads Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, “played an integral role in the repression of ongoing protests in Cuba.” Cuban forces detained more than 100 protesters during the recent demonstrations against rising prices and food shortages. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called the sanctions “baseless and slanderous” in a Twitter post.

What else can the United States do? President Joe Biden has ordered a review of the possibility of increasing U.S. Embassy staff in Havana to support civil society engagement. Biden also asked the State Department to revisit allowing people in the United States to send money to friends and family in Cuba, a practice that is currently banned to keep the communist regime from intercepting the funds.

Dig deeper: Read my report in World Tour on the historic protests.