The U.S. Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on Cuba’s Interior Ministry and its leader, accusing them of serious human rights violations.
The measures against the Ministry and Brigadier Gen. Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas include freezing any bank accounts they may have in the United States and blocking any business operations with U.S. entities.
The new sanctions, which are largely symbolic, come less than a week before the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, which has been characterized by strong hostility toward the Cuban government.
“The United States will continue to use all the tools at its disposal to address the dire human rights situation in Cuba and elsewhere around the world,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement on January 15.
The sanctions will be implemented under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and directed “against the perpetrators of serious human rights abuses and corruption throughout the world,” the…