Overview

• For the first time, the U.S. sanctioned a sitting Cuban president by designating Miguel Díaz-Canel, Defense Minister Álvaro López Miera and Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas for gross human rights violations and barring them and their immediate families from U.S. entry under a fiscal 2025 budget provision.
• The administration also imposed confidential visa restrictions on unnamed judicial and prison officials accused of arbitrary detentions and torture of protesters from the July 11 uprising.
• Eleven regime-linked hotels, including Havana’s Torre K, were added to the Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List to cut off U.S. dollars flowing through properties tied to the military-controlled conglomerate GAESA.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanded proof of life for dissident leader José Daniel Ferrer and called for the release of all political prisoners held since the 2021 demonstrations.
• Independent monitoring groups report worsening conditions in Cuban prisons, documenting deaths, beatings, torture and denial of medical care for detainees connected to the July 11 protests.