The targets of today’s designations are Roberto Legra Sotolongo (Legra) and Andres Laureano Gonzalez Brito (Gonzalez) of the Cuban Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR), and Abelardo Jimenez Gonzalez (Jimenez) of the Cuban Ministry of Interior (MININT). Since the beginning of the July 2021 protests in Cuba, the Cuban regime has used security forces to suppress peaceful demonstrators. Legra is the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and Chief of the Directorate of Operations of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), under MINFAR, which deployed the Tropas de Prevencion (TDP), a military police unit, in response to the demonstrations. OFAC previously designated the TDP pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Alvaro Lopez Miera, Minister of the FAR. Gonzalez is the Chief of the Central Army, also under MINFAR.
Jimenez is the Chief of the Directorate of Penitentiary Establishments, under MININT; in this role, he is responsible for the treatment and disposition of people imprisoned in Cuba. Cuban security forces have detained more than 800 people in response to the protests, with many being held in “preventative jail,” and the whereabouts of multiple people still unknown. Once in jail, many are prosecuted by Cuban authorities in summary trials, with simplified procedures and often without the chance of hiring a defense lawyer. Dozens of people have already been sentenced to up to a year in prison or correctional work as a result of summary trials.
Legra and Gonzalez were designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being foreign persons who are or have been leaders or officials of an entity, including any government entity, that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, directly or indirectly, serious human rights abuse relating to Legra’s and Gonzalez’s tenures.
Jimenez was designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, MININT, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 13818. MININT was previously designated by OFAC pursuant to E.O. 13818 on January 15, 2021, for being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse.
On December 23, 2016, the President signed the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (Pub. L. 114-328, Title XII, Subtitle F) (the “Act”) into law. The Act authorized the President to impose targeted sanctions on any foreign person the President determines is, among other things, responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, or a government official, or a senior associate of such an official, responsible for, or complicit in, ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, acts of significant corruption.
On December 20, 2017, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706) (IEEPA), issued Executive Order 13818 (82 FR 60839, December 26, 2017) (E.O. 13818), effective at 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on December 21, 2017.
In E.O. 13818, the President determined that serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.
OFAC is issuing the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 583 (the “Regulations”), to implement the Act and E.O. 13818, pursuant to authorities delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury in E.O. 13818. A copy of E.O. 13818 appears in appendix A to this part.
