Month: May 2024

Cuba States That Its Cooperation Against Terrorism Invalidates U.S. Finding That Cuba Is a State Sponsor of Terrorism 

A prior post reported that the U.S. State Department has removed Cuba from a U.S. list of states that do not cooperate against terrorism while simultaneously keeping Cuba on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. [1]

Cuban Foreign Ministry Response

In response, the Cuban Foreign Ministry pointed out the inconsistency of the U.S. positions and demanded that the U.S. also end its designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. That Cuban statement directly stated, ‘The State Department itself maintains Cuba on a list designating states that allegedly ‘sponsor’ terrorism. This is nothing but a totally unilateral and unfounded list, whose only purpose is to smear and serve as a pretext for imposing  coercive economic sanctions against them, as those ruthlessly imposed upon Cuba.” [2]

“The demand for the United States government to amend such an injustice continues to be firmly and repeatedly made not only by the Cuban people and many governments, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, but also by political, social and religious organizations in the United States itself and by several U.S. politicians.”

“The clear and absolute truth is that Cuba does not sponsor terrorism, but it has been a victim of it instead, including State terrorism. This is a question that can be confirmed by anyone interested in the topic and that is very well-known by the government of the United States, its State Department and its intelligence and law enforcement agencies. They are also fully aware of how significantly harmful for the Cuban economy are the sanctions, actions and the intimidating effect that automatically have on any State having it included in such a list, regardless of what the truth might be.”

“It is not enough to recognize that Cuba fully cooperates with the United States. Cuba does so with the entire international community as well.  That  is a widely known fact and public opinion is not to be misled about it. The President of the United States has all the privileges to act honestly and to do what is  right.”

Colombian Government Response

The Government of Colombia also reiterated its call for the U.S. to rescind its  unjust designation of Cuba as an alleged State sponsor of terrorism, which ignores the Island’s commitment to the search for peace. The Colombian Foreign Ministry said that, due to foreign policy principles, it does not share this type of unilateral extraterritorial measures, and expressed its gratitude for the support and enormous efforts of Cuba to contribute to the search for peace in its territory.[3]

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 [1 ]U.S. Excludes Cuba from List of Non-Cooperators Against Terrorism, dwkcommentaries.com (May 18, 2024).

[2 ] Statement of Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, May 16, 2024); Capote, If Cuba cooperates against terrorism, it is absurd to accuse it of being a sponsor, Granma (May 18, 2024).

[3] Colombia demanded to remove Cuba from the terrorism list, Granma (May 18, 2024).

U.S. Excludes Cuba from List of Non-Cooperators Against Terrorism     

On May 15 U.S. Secretary of Antony Blinken released the State Department’s annual list of the following four states that did not fully cooperate with the U.S. anti-terrorism efforts: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran, Syria and Venezuela. [1]

The Secretary also stated that the U.S. had determined that the circumstances for the [prior] certification of Cuba for this list had changed and thus the new list excluded Cuba. The changes were Colombia’s cancellation of its request for Cuba to extradite commanders of ELN (guerrilla group) and the 2023 resumption of U.S.-Cuba police cooperation, including the fight against terrorism

The Secretary closed by stating that this list is not the same as the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, which by statute establishes specific legal criteria for recission which have not been met by Cuba.

Reactions

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez also had a similar reaction. He said, “All political manipulation of the issue should cease and our arbitrary and unjust inclusion on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism should end.”

On May 16, the Department’s Principal Deputy Spokesperson, Vidant Patel, made the following response to a journalist’s question about these issues:

  • “So the designation of a state sponsor of terrorism is a totally separate process from an NFCC certification. There have been countries certified as NFCCs without being designated as state sponsors of terrorism, and vice versa. U.S. law establishes specific statutory criteria for rescinding any state sponsor of terrorism designation, and any review of Cuba’s status on this would need to be based on the law and the criteria established by Congress.”
  • “So to take a step back on this NFCC . . . process, . . . the department determined that the circumstances for Cuba’s certifications as not fully cooperating country have changed from 2022 to 2023. First, Cuba’s refusal to engage with Colombia on extradition requests for National Liberation Army members supported Cuba’s NFCC certification for 2022. In August of 2022, pursuant to an order from Colombian President Petro, Colombia’s attorney general announced that arrest warrant would be suspended against 17 ELN commanders, including those whose extradition Colombia had previously requested from Cuba. Moreover, the U.S. and Cuba resumed law enforcement cooperation in 2023, including on counterterrorism.”
  • “Therefore, we’ve determined that Cuba’s continued certification as a not fully cooperating country was no longer appropriate. . . .{S]ales of defense articles to Cuba will continue to be restricted under Section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act given Cuba’s status as a state sponsor of terrorism. Moreover, Cuba remains subject to a incredibly comprehensive embargo still.”
  • “[A state]can be a cooperator on counterterrorism, but we still believe that there are actions that they are undertaking that of the support of terrorist activities. I’m not going to get into those specifically from up here.”

As a blogger interested in legal issues relating to Cuba and a frequent commentator on the U.S. listing Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, I was surprised by this related category of non-cooperators against terrorism.

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[1] [State] Department Press Briefing, May 16, 2024; The US Excludes Cuba from the list of countries that do not cooperate in the fight against terrorism, Diario de Cuba (May 15, 2024). Torres, U.S. Removes Cuba from list of countries ‘not cooperating fully’ with anti-terrrorism efforts, Miami Herald (May 16, 2024), As a non-subscriber to the Miami Herald, this blogger was unable to read this article. We would welcome a comment of any additional details in this article from a reader who has access to that newspaper

 

 

Will the World’s Population Cease To Expand?  

This blog has published many posts about the U.S. currently experiencing a declining and aging population and seeing one solution in encouraging immigration from other countries that have increasing and younger populations.[1]

This perspective is complicated by some population experts seeing a future peak in world population and a subsequent shrinkage in same without reaching a plateau and stable population.[2]

Dean Spears’ Opinion

Dean Spears (an economist at the Population Research Center at the University of Texas, Austin) asserts that various experts agree that world population soon will peak and then shrink. Here are those experts’ opinions on the timing of such a peak: U.N. demographers, 2080s; Wittgenstein Center for Demography and Global Human Capital, 2070s; Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, 2060s.

The common element in these projections is families having smaller family sizes. The main reason, Spears claims, is “people want smaller families than people did in the past. Humanity is building a better, freer world with more opportunities for everyone, especially for women. That progress deserves everyone’s continued efforts. That progress also means that, for many of us, the desire to build a family can clash with other important goals, including having a career, pursuing projects and maintaining relationships.”

These competing interests could lead to “backsliding on reproductive freedom—by limiting abortion rights, for example. But Spears says, “low birthrates are no reason to reverse progress toward a more free, diverse and equal world.”

Spears concludes this analysis with the following statement: “Humanity needs a compassionate, factual and fair conversation about how to respond to depopulation and how to share the burdens of creating each future generation. The way to have that conversation is to start paying attention now.” (Emphasis added.)

Wall Street Journal’s Perspective

The Wall Street Journal begins its article, “The world is at a startling demographic milestone. Sometime soon, the global fertility rate will drop below the point needed to keep population constant. It may have already happened. Fertility is falling almost everywhere, for women across all levels of income, education and labor-force participation. The falling birthrates come with huge implications for the way people live, how economies grow and the standings of the world’s superpowers.” (Emphasis added.)

“Many government leaders see this as a matter of national urgency. They worry about shrinking workforces, slowing economic growth and underfunded pensions; and the vitality of a society with ever-fewer children. Smaller populations come with diminished global clout, raising questions in the U.S., China and Russia about their long-term standings as superpowers.” (Emphasis added.)

“Some demographers see this as part of a ‘second demographic transition,’ a society wide reorientation toward individualism that puts less emphasis on marriage and parenthood, and makes fewer or no children more acceptable.”

According to Professor Melissa Kearney of the University of Maryland, “state-level differences in parental abortion notification laws, unemployment, Medicaid availability, housing costs, contraceptive usage, religiosity, child-care costs and student debt could explain almost none of the decline. We suspect that this shift reflects broad societal changes that are hard to measure or quantify. . . . If people have a preference for spending time building a career, on leisure, relationships outside the home, that’s more likely to come in conflict with childbearing. Meanwhile, time-use data show that mothers and fathers, especially those that are highly educated, spend more time with their children than in the past. The intensity of parenting is a constraint.”

“With no reversal in birthrates in sight, the attendant economic pressures are intensifying. Since the pandemic, labor shortages have become endemic throughout developed countries. That will only worsen in coming years as the past crisis fall in birthrates yields an ever-shrinking inflow of young workers, placing more strain on healthcare and retirement systems.” (Emphasis added.)

Conclusion

 These articles were the first that this blogger had heard of a projected decline in world population which if and when it happened would have a major impact on many countries and national and international economics and politics. Comments by others on this topic are encouraged.

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[1] See, e.g., the following dwkcommentries.com posts: Naturalized U.S. Citizens: Important Contributors to U.S. Culture and Economy,(June 7, 2015); Iowa State Government Encouraging Refugee and Migrant Resettlement(Feb. 3, 2023); Other States Join Iowa in Encouraging Immigration to Combat Aging, Declining Population (Feb. 22, 2023); Wall Street Journal Editorial: U.S. Needs More Immigrants (July 25, 2023); S. Has Long-Term Labor Crisis (Sept. 26, 2023); Migrants from All Over Flocking to U.S. (Nov. 4, 2023);U.S. States That Could Have the Greatest Benefit from Immigrant Labor (Feb. 28, 2024); Another Documentation of the U.S. Need for Immigrants (April 12, 2024); Negative Impact of Donald Trump’s Proposed Immigration Restrictions (May 15, 2024).

[2] Spears, The World’s Population May Peak in Your Lifetime. What Happens Next?, New York Times (Sept. 18, 2023), Ip & Adamy, Suddenly There Aren’t Enough Babies. The Whole World Is Alarmed, W.S.J. (May 13, 2024).

 

 

Negative Impact on Minnesota of Donald Trump’s Proposed Immigration Restrictions

Candidate Donald Trump’s proposed immigration changes would “send shock waves through [Minnesota’s] economy” according to the StarTribune’s Emma Nelson and Christopher Vondracek. Those changes would bar refugees, carry out mass deportations and limit birthright citizenship. [1] Here are the perceived impact of such proposed changes on the State of Minnesota.

“Minnesota’s unemployment rate is lower than the U.S. as a whole, and employers are struggling to fill nearly 200,000 open jobs. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota’s labor shortage is among the country’s more severe, with just 51 workers for every 100 open jobs.”

According the the State’s Demographer, Susan Brower, “there is no other option for growing the workforce other than international immigration or a change in domestic migration patterns, which for 20 years have not worked in the favor of Minnesota. We’d have to see, really, a very drastic change both in domestic migration patterns but also in the level of international immigration to even begin to scratch the surface of meeting the current labor force needs that we have.”

The State currently “is home to about 480,000 foreign-born residents, comprising about 8.5% of the population. . . . Those residents tend to be younger than Minnesota’s native-born population, and most are in their prime working years, filling jobs from agriculture to education to health care. Between 2011 and 2021, immigrants comprised half the state’s labor force growth, though they made up less than 11% of the workforce.”

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[1] Smith & Vondracek, A promised immigration crackdown if Trump wins re-election could cripple Minnesota’s workforce, StarTribune (May 2, 2024).

Proposed New U.S. Restriction on Asylum Applications 

On May 9, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a proposed new restriction on applications for asylum in U.S. that would allow U.S. asylum officers to remove any foreigner deemed to be a danger to U.S. security at the initiai credible fear screening immediately after being apprehended at the U.S. border.[1]

The Announcement

“Federal law bars individuals who pose a national security or public safety risk from asylum and withholding of removal, specifically those who have been convicted of a particularly serious crime, participated in the persecution of others, are inadmissible on national security or terrorism-related grounds, or for whom there are reasonable grounds to deem them a danger to the security of the United States. While anyone who is deemed to pose a public safety threat is taken into custody, the asylum eligibility determination is not currently made until later in the process – at the merits adjudication stage of the asylum and withholding of removal claims. Today’s proposed rule would permit Asylum Officers to consider these bars to asylum and withholding of removal during initial credible fear screening, which happens just days after an individual is encountered. This will allow DHS to expeditiously remove individuals who pose a threat to the United States much sooner than is currently the case, better safeguarding the security of our border and our country.” (Emphasis added.)

In addition, the Department “issued revised guidance to Asylum Officers to consider whether an asylum seeker could reasonably relocate to another part of the country of feared persecution when assessing claims of future persecution in all credible fear cases. Internal relocation has always been a part of an analysis of future claims of harm, and this new guidance, consistent with the CLP rule, will ensure early identification and removal of individuals who would ultimately be found ineligible for protection because of their ability to remain safe by relocating elsewhere in the country from which they fled.”

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[1] U.S. Dep’t Homeland Security, DHS Announces Proposed Rule and Other Measures to Enhance Security, Streamline Asylum Processing (May 9, 2024); It will be more difficult from now on to obtain asylum at the US border, Diario de Cuba (May 10, 2024).

 

U.S. Response to Cuban Americans for Normalizing Relations with Cuba

On May 6, the Alliance for Commitment and Respect for Cuba (ACERE), an U.S. organization on behalf of over 200 Cuban-Americans, and 30 Cuban-American organizations and others, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of State with the following request:

  • “[H]elp alleviate the . . .[dire economic crisis] on the island by issuing regulations to support the growth of Cuba’s private sector; rescinding Cuba’s unfounded designation as a state sponsor of terrorism; fully funding and staffing the U.S. Embassy in Havana in order to resume the processing of nonimmigrant visas; and further easing restrictions on travel to facilitate people-to-people exchange and family reunification.”
  • “The signers also urge President Biden to return to a broader path of normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations, which polling indicates enjoys broad support among a vast majority of Cuban-American Democrats in Florida and an overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens.”[1]

The signers of this letter include former federal, state and local officials; academics and university administrators; business owners, executives and investors; lawyers; architects; doctors; scientists; educators; artists, musicians and filmmakers; non-profit administrators; social workers; veterans and other prominent individuals.”

U.S. Response to Letter[2]

On May 9, a State Department official responded to this letter with the following comments:

  • The U.S. welcomes “the opportunity for exchange views with a wide range of civil society groups, including ACERE” and appreciates the work of civil society in achieving the objectives of freedom and democracy for the Cuban people.”
  • “United States policy towards Cuba focuses on supporting the Cuban people, including their human rights, fundamental freedoms, and their political and economic well-being.”
  • The “Administration previously announced a series of measures to support the Cuban people, including the elimination of previous limits on remittances, support for the development of the private sector, easing of travel restrictions and the expansion of consular services in the United States Embassy in Havana.”

Conclusion

As a U.S. citizen and voter without any Cuban genealogical connections, this blogger supports the ACERE request.

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[1] Press Release: Prominent Cuban Americans Call On President Biden To Fulfill His Campaign Promises on Cuba, acere.org (May 6, 2024); Remove Cuba from SST list, claims Cuban Americans, Prensa Latina (May 6, 2024); A group of Cuban Americans asks Biden for a ‘broader path of normalization’ of relations with the regime, Diario de Cuba (May 8, 2024).

[2] The US responds to criticism from ACERE: “the policy towards Cuba focuses on supporting the people, Martinotices.com (May 9, 2024); The US responds to Cuban Americans who demand that Biden ‘normalize’ relations with the regime, Diario de Cuba (May 10, 2024).

No Solutions to Cuba’s Water Crisis 

On a recent national television program, the president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources of Cuba (INRH), Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez, responded to a question from President Diaz-Canel about why 90% of responses in a recent survey said state water services were disastrous.[1]

The response: the water service is “marked by broken equipment, lack of maintenance and spare parts and accessories, that is, the obsolescence of the infrastructure, which prevents establishing an estimated time to resolve the problems, which currently includes the lack of fuel.”

Rodriguez added, “ the responses of the people “coincide with real problems that we have in different places, and affect both the water supply and the solution of leaks or the management of sewage.” This includes “thousands of liters of drinking water are dumped daily as a result of leaks.”

Another point made by Rodriguez was “there are times that we repair [a problem] poorly, that is, we don’t do the job as we have to do it, and we have to go back to the same place once or twice.” This often was due to  “the lack of aggregates and cements.”

The Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory recently reported that despite having extensive reservoir systems, more than 67% of the Cuban population does not receive stable water in their homes” and “almost 2 million Cubans (1,884,000) do not have access to drinking water.”

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[1] There is no solution to the water crisis in Cuba, Diario de Cuba (May 6, 2024).

 

 

 

Minnesota Will Suffer from a Crackdown on U.S. Immigration  

Today “Minnesota is home to about 480,000 foreign-born residents, comprising about 8.5% of the population, according to the state Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Those residents tend to be younger than Minnesota’s native-born population, and most are in their prime working years, filling jobs from agriculture to education to health care. Between 2011 and 2021, immigrants comprised half the state’s labor force growth, though they made up less than 11% of the workforce.”  This includes an estimated 81,000 undocumented residents, 53,000 of whom are civilian workers age 16 or older.[1]

Yet “Minnesota’s [current] unemployment rate is lower than the U.S. as a whole, and employers are struggling to fill nearly 200,000 open jobs. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota’s labor shortage is among the country’s more severe, with just 51 workers for every 100 open jobs.”

Minnesota’s need for more workers is especially important in agriculture and health care.

  • The State has rich farmland and relies upon immigrant workforces to tend to livestock or process animals. Many farms hire guest workers through the H-2A visa program, but efforts to increase the number of such visas and to make them available to dairy farm workers have been unsuccessful.
  • Health care’s need for workers has been increasing with :a wave of baby boomer retirements and increasing numbers of older residents needing such care. And foreign-born health-care workers bring an outside perspective that has been shown to improve patient outcomes.

According to Minnesota’s State Demographer Susan Brower, “People don’t understand sometimes that there is no other option for growing the workforce other than international immigration or a change in domestic migration patterns, which for 20 years have not worked in the favor of Minnesota. We’d have to see, really, a very drastic change both in domestic migration patterns but also in the level of international immigration to even begin to scratch the surface of meeting the current labor force needs that we have.”

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[1] Nelson & Vondracek, A promised immigration crackdown if Trump wins re-election could cripple Minnesota workforce, StarTribune (May 2, 2024), This blog has published many posts about the low U.S. fertility rate and the overall U.S. need for more immigration and reforms of our immigration laws. (E.g., U.S. Fertility Rate Falls to Record Low (April 25, 2024) (and prior posts cited in note 2 thereto); More Thoughts on U.S. Low Fertility Rate (May 1, 2024).

Cuba Ranked Last in Press Freedom in Latin America

Reporters without Borders, an international non-governmental and non-profit organization based in Paris, [whose] main objective is to promote and defend freedom of information, ranked Cuba last in the Americas with a score of 168 out of 180. [1] Here is what it said about Cuba:

  • “Year after year, Cuba continues to be the worst country in Latin America in terms of press freedom.”
  • “Media panorama: Television, radio and newspapers are closely monitored by the State, and the private press remains prohibited by the Constitution. The television networks Tele Rebelde and Cubavisión are the most important in the country, while the radio station Radio Reloj is the most listened to. The Granma newspaper is the most widely distributed and is controlled by the State, like the rest of the media. Independent journalists are monitored by agents who try to limit their freedom of movement, make arrests and erase the information they have.”
  • “Political context: Miguel Díaz-Canel, protégé of Raúl Castro, whom he replaced as president of the country in 2019, and later as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, perpetuates the lineage of the Castro family and maintains almost total control of information.”
  • “Legal framework: Bloggers and journalists find a space of freedom on the Internet, access to which is largely controlled by the State, but they do so at their own risk. They are frequently prevented from covering important events, either through detention or house arrest. In 2021, new regulations made the principle of an open, free and inclusive Internet even more utopian, completely violating the right to freedom of expression and information in the digital environment. The new penal code approved in 2022 has reinforced the repertoire of repressive measures in Cuba, through vague terminology (“public disturbances”, “outrage”, “danger to the constitutional order”…) that can easily serve as a pretext for persecute journalists.”
  • “Economic context: Due to the pandemic and the reinforcement of American sanctions, Cuba is going through its worst economic crisis in 30 years, forcing numerous inhabitants to emigrate at any cost.”
  • “Sociocultural context: The protests of the San Isidro movement, in November 2020, and the subsequent mass demonstrations on July 11, 2021, gave rise to a wave of relentless repression, similar to that of the Black Spring of 2003.”
  • “Security: Arrests, arbitrary detentions, threats of imprisonment, persecution and harassment, illegal searches of homes and the confiscation and destruction of material are part of the daily life of journalists who oppose the official Castro line. The authorities also control media coverage by foreign outlets, selectively granting accreditations and expelling those deemed “too negative” toward the regime. “

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[1] Reporters without Borders, America: Political pressures increasingly threaten the independence and safety of journalists (May 2024); Reporters Without Borders places Cuba in 168th place in its global press freedom index, Diario de Cuba (May 3, 2024).

 

U.S. Critical of Cuban Religious Freedom 

On May 1 the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom published its annual report for 2023.[1]

This report included its List of Countries of Special Concern. In addition to Cuba the other countries on this list were Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Report’s Key Findings on Cuba[2]

“In 2023, religious freedom conditions in Cuba remained extremely poor. The government maintained an oppressive legal framework that severely restricted peaceful religious activity, regularly harassed religious leaders and worshipers, and continued to wrongfully imprison individuals for their peaceful religious activity.”

“In May 2023, the Cuban government approved the Social Communication Law, which codifies broad prohibitions on peaceful expression, including religious expression that is critical of the government. The legislation expands the government’s already extensive authority to target individuals freely expressing their religious convictions. For example, the amended Cuban Penal Code criminalizes “contempt,” “public disorder,” and “resistance,” each of which may be used to punish the activities of religious leaders and worshipers perceived to be critical of the government. In addition, Decree Law 370 threatens independent journalists reporting on religious freedom with criminal charges and fines.”

“Throughout 2023, the Office of Religious Affairs (ORA) continued to regulate and control religious institutions. The Law of Associations requires religious organizations to apply to the Ministry of Justice, where the ORA is housed, for registration. Membership or association with an unregistered religious group is a crime and, despite existing criteria, registration decisions are often arbitrary and discriminatory. The ORA also exercises arbitrary control over the affairs of registered religious organizations and requires permission for virtually any activity other than regular worship services. Religious leaders and groups that are unregistered or conduct unsanctioned religious activity are subject to interrogation, detention, threats of prison sentences on false charges, and confiscation of property.”

“The government draws on its vast domestic security and surveillance apparatus to harass and intimidate religious leaders and worshipers, including through the Department of State Security, the National Revolutionary Police, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. For example, Cuban authorities regularly and arbitrarily prevented individuals from peacefully gathering at religious sites and events. In January 2023, the government prohibited mothers of political prisoners from attending church to pray for their release. In March, police beat and detained a couple on their way to church after alleging that the couple was going to “take communion against communism.” In June, police prevented a journalist from attending the funeral mass of a priest whose remains had been transferred to the cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. In October, Cuban authorities detained two pastors who were scheduled to attend an event on the right to freedom of religion or belief. Additionally, authorities pressured individuals whose religious expressions ran afoul of government orthodoxy. In May, a professor threatened a university student with expulsion after the student refused to sign a document committing himself to Cuba’s governing ideology for reasons of religious conscience. And in September, police interrogated a young man who disseminated religiously inspired videos online and pressured him to refrain from speaking critically about the government.”

“Religious prisoners of conscience remain arbitrarily imprisoned for peacefully following their religious convictions. For example, Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, the pastor and leader of the Monte de Sion Independent Church, has been in prison since 2021 for his peaceful participation in the protests on July 11, 2021. Twins Lisdani Rodríguez Isaac and Lisdiani Rodríguez Isaac, members of the Free Yorubas, an independent religious group, also remain imprisoned for their peaceful participation in the July 11 protests. The authorities denied the twins’ application for transfer to a lower-security prison.”

Report’s Recommendations to U.S. Government[3]

 “Redesignate Cuba as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA);”

“Urge Cuban authorities to extend an official invitation for unrestricted visits to USCIRF, the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, and the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; and”

“Impose targeted sanctions on Cuban government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom— including the ORA, the Department of State Security, the National Revolutionary Police, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution—by freezing those individuals’ assets and/or barring their entry to the United States under human rights-related financial and visa authorities.”

Report’s Recommendations to U.S. Congress[4]

“The U.S. Congress should: ”Highlight religious freedom concerns in Cuba through hearings and letters and by advocating for the release of religious prisoners of conscience such as Lisdiani Rodríguez Isaac, Lisdani Rodríguez Isaac, Donaida Pérez Paseiro, Loreto Hernández García, and Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo.”

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[1] U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2024 Annual Report (May 2024).The US maintains the Cuban regime on its blacklist of countries that violate religious freedom, Diario de Cuba (May 2, 2024)

[2] Report at 26.

[3]  Ibid. The State Department on December 29, 2023, redesignated Cuba as a Country of Particular Concern. (U.S. Designates Cuba as a “Country of Particular Concern” Regarding Religious Freedom, dwkcommentaries.com (Jan. 6. 2024).

[4]  Report at 26.