By Oyintari Ben
A road for prospective penalties has been opened by the United States’ addition of Latin American rivals Cuba and Nicaragua as well as Russia’s Wagner Group on a blacklist on international religious freedom.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement on Friday noted that “governments and non-state entities around the world harass, threaten, arrest, and even kill individuals on account of their beliefs.”
The US “will not remain silent in the face of such abuses.”
The Wagner Group was singled out for their involvement in atrocities in the Central African Republic, where there have been religious undertones to the killing for almost ten years.
The Russian mercenary outfit has also been implicated in Mali and has been charged with violating human rights in Ukraine, Libya, and Syria.
The two leftist-led republics, which are already subject to US sanctions, Cuba and Nicaragua, have both been freshly labelled as “Countries of Particular Concern” under the yearly determinations. As a result, they may now be subject to additional restrictions.
Since accusing the Catholic Church of aiding the 2018 anti-government rallies, which were put down at the cost of hundreds of deaths, Nicaragua’s increasingly authoritarian president Daniel Ortega has tightened restrictions on the church.
The designation of Cuba is the latest indication that the administration of President Joe Biden is exerting pressure on the island, which has mostly rejected efforts by former Democratic President Barack Obama to seek reconciliation with the long-time US foe.
The State Department highlighted limitations on unrecognized Protestant churches as well as violence and arrests of Cuban religious figures for alleged roles in infrequent public protests in its most recent annual report on religious freedom, which was released in June.
Ned Price, a spokesperson for the State Department, told reporters that “these actions indicated a change to engaging in and allowing systematic, ongoing egregious breaches of religious freedom, which is the foundation for the designation.”
Bruno Rodriguez, the foreign minister of Cuba, denounced the US blacklisting as “arbitrary” and “dishonest,” and rejected it.
