The Trump administration is sanctioning four Cuban judicial officials over their alleged roles in the detention of a political dissident in 2020, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on May 21.
Rubio identified the four people as prosecutor Yanaisa Matos Legrá and Judges Gladys Maria Padrón Canals, Maria Elena Fornari Conde, and Juan Sosa Orama.
He said the four were being sanctioned by the State Department because of a “gross violation of human rights,” namely the “arbitrary detention” of Cuban dissident Luis Robles Elizástigui.
All four of the sanctioned individuals work at the People’s Provincial Court of Havana, where they oversaw the prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of Robles Elizástigui on behalf of the Cuban regime, Rubio said.
As a result of the sanctions, the individuals and their families are banned from entering the United States, he stated.
Robles Elizástigui was arrested while protesting in Cuba’s capital city of Havana in December 2020 while holding a sign that read “Liberty” and “No more Repression.”
He was charged with “disobedience” and “enemy propaganda,” according to his family and rights groups.
Robles Elizástigui was released from jail in January as part of a Biden administration deal brokered by the Vatican.
Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants, said the sanctions against the four individuals are further proof that the Trump administration is “committed to holding accountable Cuban regime officials involved in violating human rights.”
Rubio Condemns Rearrests of Political Prisoners
Rubio also drew attention to the recent rearrests of political prisoners who he said are being returned to jail on “frivolous grounds,” including high-profile human rights activist José Daniel Ferrer, who founded an opposition group called the National Patriotic Union of Cuba, or Unpacu, in 2011.Ferrer was rearrested in April for allegedly violating the terms of his parole, just three months after his release.
The activist had failed to attend two mandatory court hearings, in violation of Cuban law and the conditions of his release, Maricela Sosa, vice president of Cuba’s Supreme Popular Tribunal, told Reuters in a May 20 statement.
Ferrer, who was initially arrested in 2021 following protests against the government, has maintained that he was wrongly jailed by Cuban authorities from the start and claims that his presence at any judicial hearing is unnecessary.
Rubio also highlighted Cuba’s rearrest of Félix Navarro, another high-profile dissident, in April.
Navarro, who was sentenced to nine years in prison after the 2021 protests, was released in January.
He was detained again after violating the terms of his parole by leaving the municipality in which he lives without first seeking authorization from a judge, Sosa said.
Sosa said that, in addition to allegedly failing to comply with the terms of their parole, both Ferrer and Navarro “are people who publicly call for disorder and disrespect for authorities in their social and online environments, and maintain public ties with the head of the United States embassy.”
“Judges and prosecutors who enable repression must be held accountable,” the organization stated. “Justice for the Cuban people begins with ending impunity.”
The Cuban regime, led by Miguel Díaz-Canel, secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, did not immediately respond to Rubio’s announcement.
The Epoch Times contacted a Cuban government spokesperson for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
