U.S. sanctions Cuba’s National Police and prepares measures to restore internet connectivity

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The United States imposed sanctions on Friday on Cuba’s National Revolutionary Police (PNR) and two of its leaders, while US President Joe Biden was preparing to announce measures aimed at “improving Internet connectivity” on the island.

In a statement, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against the PNR, its director Óscar Callejas Valcarce, and its deputy director, Eddy Sierra Arias, for their alleged role in repressing anti-government protests of July 11.

The announcement came an hour before Biden received at the White House a group of Americans with Cuban roots, a meeting in which he planned to announce measures on internet access on the island and possibly on the sending of remittances to Cuba, a senior US official told reporters.