On November 14 Carlos Fernández de Cossío, the general director for the United States of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the U.S. has been delaying or denying visas for Cuban diplomats to join the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C. This, he said, has resulted in damages to the functioning of that Embassy and may lead to Cuba doing the same thing with respect to U.S. diplomats for its Embassy in Havana. [1]
In addition, on November 16, the U.S. denied visas to the Cuban Interior Minister, Julio Cesar Gandarilla Bermejo, and his two children. The State Department stated, this was “due to his involvement, by command responsibility, in gross violations of human rights in Venezuela” and to “Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior . . Cuban Interior Minister. [being] responsible for arbitrarily arresting and detaining thousands of Cuban citizens and unlawfully incarcerating more than 100 political prisoners in Cuba. Ministry officials have overseen the torture of political dissidents, detainees, and prisoners, as well as the murder of some of these individuals by police and security forces. Gandarilla Bermejo is complicit in arbitrarily or unlawfully surveilling these groups, whether they be citizens or visitors.” [2]
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[1] Fernández de Cossío: U.S. denies visas to Cuban diplomats and forces Cuba to “reciprocate,” Oncuba News (Nov. 14, 2019).
[2] State Dep’t, Public Designation of Julio Cesar Gandarilla Bermejo under Section 7031(c ) of the FY 2019 Department of State, Foreign Operations List (Nov. 16, 2019); Reuters, U.S. Slaps Travel Sanctions on Second Senior Cuban Official, N.Y. Times (Nov. 16, 2019); US bans entry to Cuban Interior Minister and his children, Diario de Cuba (Nov. 17, 2019).
