FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: People clash with plain clothes police during protests against and in support of the government, amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Havana, Cuba July 11, 2021. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini/File Photo/File Photo

The US government imposes entry bans on 28 government employees in Cuba. The State Department in Washington announced on Saturday that those affected included government officials who were involved in the suppression of peaceful protests on July 11 last year. High-ranking members of the Cuban Communist Party would also be subject to entry bans.

They would have allowed or made possible “violent and unjust arrests, sham trials and decades of imprisonment for hundreds of demonstrators”. Also affected are Cuban government officials who have participated in the spread of disinformation.

In the mass protests in Cuba on July 11 – the largest against the socialist government in decades – people demonstrated in several cities for freedom and against repression and mismanagement. Videos mostly showed peaceful demonstrations that were violently broken up by security forces.