WASHINGTON - The Trump administration on
Thursday imposed diplomatic sanctions on Cuban Communist Party
leader Raul Castro, accusing him of "gross violations of human
rights" as it sought to step up pressure on Havana over its
support of Venezuela's socialist president, Nicolas Maduro.
In U.S. President Donald Trump's toughest direct action so
far against Cuba's communist leadership since taking office in
2017, the United States targeted Castro, Cuba's former president
and brother of the late Fidel Castro, as well as family members.
"Castro is responsible for Cuba’s actions to prop up the
former Maduro regime in Venezuela through violence,
intimidation, and repression," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
said in a statement, reiterating the Trump administration's
position that Maduro is no longer the legitimate president.
The sanctions will block Castro and his immediate family
from entering the United States, Pompeo said. In addition to
Castro, the U.S. State Department also sanctioned his children,
Alejandro Castro Espin, Deborah Castro Espin, Mariela Castro
Espin, and Nilsa Castro Espin.
Pompeo also accused Castro, who is considered Cuba's most
powerful figure, of overseeing "a system that arbitrarily
detains thousands of Cubans and currently holds more than 100
political prisoners."
The Cuban government did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
It was the latest in a series of punitive measures that the
Trump administration has taken against Washington's old Cold War
foe, steadily rolling back the historic opening to Havana under
Trump's Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama.
Trump has focused especially on Cuba's support for Maduro.
Earlier this year, the United States and dozens of other
countries recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as
Venezuela's legitimate president, accusing Maduro of rigging the
country's last election.
"In concert with Maduro’s military and intelligence
officers, members of the Cuban security forces have been
involved in gross human rights violations and abuses in
Venezuela, including torture," Pompeo said.
Last week, the United States expelled two of Cuba's United
Nations diplomats, citing "influence operations."
Washington has made it clear that a key objective of its
pressure campaign is to force Cuba to abandon Maduro, something
Havana has said it will never do.
Trump has stopped short of breaking off diplomatic relations
with Cuba restored by Obama in 2015 after more than five decades
of hostility.
Maduro and his loyalists have accused Guaido, who earlier
this year assumed an interim presidency to rival Maduro's
government, of trying to mount a U.S.-directed coup.
"Castro is complicit in undermining Venezuela’s democracy
and triggering the hemisphere’s largest humanitarian crisis,
forcing 15 percent of the Venezuelan population to flee the
country and precipitating a food shortage and health crisis of
unprecedented scale in this region," Pompeo said.