MIAMI — The U.S. will impose further sanctions on officials involved in quashing anti-government protests in Cuba, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said after a meeting with Cuban American activists in Miami on Thursday.
“Later today, we will be announcing another set of sanctions against individuals who were responsible for the repression and the brutality in response to the Cuban people’s cry for liberty on July 11.” Mayorkas said.
“This administration stands with the Cuban people,” he said, adding assurances that the administration will not develop a policy towards Cuba without the input of Cuban Americans.
Mayorkas’ visit to Miami included a Thursday afternoon meeting with members of the Haitian diaspora to discuss the U.S. response to the earthquake on Aug. 14, on the heels of the political crisis caused by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse last month.
Haitians activists were hoping DHS would further extend Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status designation in response to the earthquake. On Aug. 3, Mayorkas expanded it in response to Moïse’s death, which keeps the relief in place until February 3, 2023 and applies to Haitians who were residing in the U.S. as of July 29.
But Mayorkas said Thursday there were no plans for further extensions.
“We looked at the tragedy of the assassination that occurred a while ago and we did extend our originally designated date, but we are not looking at extending that date again,” he said at a news conference at La Ermita de la Caridad.
More practical solutions
After islandwide anti-government protests erupted in Cuba on July 11, President Joe Biden sanctioned several Cuban officials, the national police, and elite units deployed to quash the demonstrations. He also ordered his administration to seek ways to provide internet access to Cubans on the island after the Cuban government shut down the service to prevent the uprising from spreading further.
Biden also ordered plans to resume remittances and increase embassy staffing. The closure of the USCIS office in Havana in 2018 and the suspension of consular services a year earlier have created a massive backlog of more than 100,000 immigration visas. The administration has also authorized humanitarian chartered flights to take medicine and food to several Cuban cities but few details have emerged on this effort.
Mayorkas said the administration was “very focused” on finding ways to reduce the visa backlog but offered no further details.
The Miami gathering included a more diverse guest list than previous White House meetings, which faced criticism for mainly having Cuban Americans close to the Democratic Party. Among the participants were Omar Lopez Montenegro of the Cuban American National Foundation and activist Rosa Maria Paya, who were not invited to meet Biden at the White House. Francis Suarez, who, after the July 11 demonstrations, said the administration should explore air strikes against Cuba, was also among the attendees.
Others present were Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas and co-founder of Roots of Hope; Manny Diaz, former Miami mayor and chair of the Florida Democratic Party and Madrid-based Yotuel Romero, lead singer of Cuban hip-hop group Orishas and principal author of “Patria y Vida,” a song that has become an anthem for the protesters. The three met Biden at the White House last month.
Some of the activists attending wanted to hear more concrete actions from the administration, they told the Herald.
Romero said it was a “relief” to be able to speak out and be heard. “But, have they given us direct, practical solutions right now? No,” he said.
Paya, who leads a referendum initiative called Cuba Decide, said that they discussed solutions to provide internet access to Cubans during the meeting. “But the Cuban people need those yesterday.”
“Our proposals have been on the table for weeks,” she said. She met last month with Juan Gonzalez, National Security Council director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, who also traveled with Mayorkas to Miami.
Missing from the Thursday meeting were Cuban American Republican Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez and María Elvira Salazar, who criticized Biden’s response to the protests. Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz attended.
Diaz-Balart said Thursday the three House members from Miami have not met with the Biden administration since the July 11 protests.
“More than five weeks have passed since the beginning of peaceful protests in Cuba, and the Biden administration has yet to grant a meeting to the Cuban-American congressmen from South Florida,” Diaz-Balart tweeted in reaction to Mayorkas’ meeting in Miami with Cuban American and Haitian American leaders.
Salazar’s office said she was not invited to the Miami meeting.
Meeting with the Haitian diaspora
In the afternoon, Mayorkas was scheduled to meet the chair of the National Haitian American Elected Officials Network, Councilman Alix Desulme, Dr. Jean-Philippe Austin of Haitian-Americans for Progress, Family Action Network Movement Executive Director Marleine Bastien, and Ambassador Patrick Gaspard.
U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson said USAID and State Department officials, in addition to Mayorkas, are expected to meet with Haitian Americans in Little Haiti.
Wilson said she intends to ask officials about the deployment of hospital ships to Haiti. The U.S. government, primarily through USAID, is providing on-the-ground disaster assistance in Haiti but the response efforts so far are not enough to meet urgent needs for food, housing, medicine and shelter.
The U.S. Southern Command said the two largest hospital ships, the USNS Mercy and Comfort, are not currently scheduled for deployment in Haiti. Instead, the USS Arlington, an amphibious transport dock that can launch and land helicopters and landing craft, is now underway, a White House official said, and is expected to arrive later this week to provide additional lift and medical capabilities in Haiti.
Mayorkas will also face calls to end to the deportations of Haitians, which continue under the Biden administration despite a campaign promise to end them.
Melissa Taveras, the Florida Immigrant Coalition’s director of government relations, said two deportation flights took place last week just days before the earthquake, with about 100 Haitians on board.
Wilson said deportations to Haiti “need to stop today. Immediately.”
