US sanctions Cuban president four years after historic protests

The United States announced unprecedented sanctions against Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Friday, July 11, just four years after historic anti-government protests rocked the communist island. The State Department has imposed visa restrictions on the Cuban leader, who is being sanctioned "for his role in the regime's brutality against the people," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on his X account. Other "key figures in the Cuban regime," such as Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera and Interior Minister Alvaro Alvarez Casas, are also targeted, he said.