By Isabella Torregiani
3:11pm PDT, Jul 16, 2025
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The U.S. is set to sanction Cuban President
Miguel Díaz-Canel and other high-ranking officials for human rights violations, marking the anniversary of the island's largest protests. According to U.S. Secretary of State
Marco Rubio, the State Department is also restricting visas for Cuban judicial and prison officials "responsible for" detaining the protesters.
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In July 2021, protests erupted across Cuba in response to the country's deepening economic crisis, resulting in numerous detentions and reports of "torture," according to Marco Rubio. "The U.S. will continue to stand for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Cuba, and make clear no illegitimate, dictatorial regimes are welcome in our hemisphere," Rubio said in the announcement. He added on X that those "responsible for, or complicit in, the unjust detention and torture of the July 2021 protesters" will face visa restrictions.
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Human rights groups estimate that more than 1,000 people were arrested in the protests' aftermath, though the Cuban government has not released official figures. One man reportedly died, and some marches against recurring blackouts in Havana and other cities ended with acts of vandalism.
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The Cuban government, however, attributes the protests to a U.S. media campaign and decades of economic sanctions. In 2022, prosecutors announced investigations into approximately 790 individuals linked to the protests, on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to sabotage and vandalism. The advocacy group 11J reported that last year, 554 people were serving sentences related to the protests, though some received conditional release in January following an appeal from Pope Francis.
