The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two Cuban police officials and a police agency for human rights violations stemming from the government’s recent violent crackdown on pro-democracy protestors, according to a July 30 news release. The designations target the Policia Nacional Revolucionaria and Director Oscar Alejandro Callejas Valcarce and Deputy Director Eddy Manuel Sierra Arias.
The confirmation of two Treasury Department nominees slated to oversee the agency’s sanctions work may be in jeopardy over the Biden administration's decision not to sanction the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
The House’s Republican Study Committee released a counterproposal to the Senate’s Endless Frontier Act that would call for a host of new sanctions against China, continue U.S. export control authorities and make some changes to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. The committee’s Countering Communist China Act, released July 29, calls for broad U.S. sanctions actions, including designations against Chinese technology applications, various senior government officials, foreign people that steal U.S. intellectual property and “foreign persons that knowingly spread malign disinformation … for purposes of political warfare.” The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control would also be authorized to hire 10 new employees to “carry out activities of the Office associated with the People’s Republic of China.”
The U.S. is planning a sanctions campaign to target Iranian procurement programs for drones and guided missiles, The Wall Street Journal reported July 29. The sanctions could target providers of parts used to build the drones and missiles because U.S. military officials have seen a “major increase” in the use of drones against U.S. forces, the report said. The sanctions could target Iranian import channels from Russia and China, the report said. The Treasury Department and the Office of Foreign Assets Control didn’t comment.
The U.S. may need to create new, stronger tools other than its current sanctions and export controls to penalize foreign countries that violate international laws, said Nazak Nikakhtar, former acting undersecretary of the Bureau of Industry and Security. While Nikakhtar cautioned the U.S. against overusing trade restrictions, she also said they need to be bolstered because some foreign governments and companies are “easily” circumventing them.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a range of sanctions targeting people and entities in Syria and Turkey for human rights abuses or for funding terrorism, OFAC said July 28. The first set of sanctions targeted Turkey-based al-Qaida financial facilitator Hasan Al-Shaban and Syria-based terrorism fundraiser Farrukh Furkatovitch Fayzimatov. Other designations targeted eight Syrian prisons controlled by the Bashar al-Assad regime, five senior Syrian security officials, the Syrian armed group Ahrar al-Sharqiya and Syria military intelligence agencies. OFAC also revised two existing Syria-related entries on its Specially Designated Nationals List.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control July 27 released more than 30 Ukraine-related web general licenses that have expired or are nearing expiration. The licenses include numerous iterations for General License No. 13, which authorized certain transactions with specific blocked entities related to Ukraine, and General License No. 15, which authorized certain transactions with GAZ Group and its subsidiaries. The most recent versions of GL 13 and 15 are scheduled to expire in January 2022 (see 2012230066).
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The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined a New York online money transmitter and provider more than $1.4 million for violating U.S. sanctions on the Crimea region of Ukraine, Iran, Sudan and Syria. Payoneer came to a settlement agreement with OFAC after illegally processing more than 2,000 payments for parties in sanctioned countries, OFAC said in a July notice. The fine was OFAC’s third highest this year.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a senior Cuban official and a government agency for their involvement in the repression of pro-democratic protests on the island this month, OFAC said July 22. The designations target Alvaro Lopez Miera, the Cuban defense minister, and the Brigada Especial Nacional del Ministerio del Interior (also known as the Boinas Negras or the Black Berets). “This is just the beginning,” President Joe Biden said in a July 22 statement. “The United States will continue to sanction individuals responsible for oppression of the Cuban people.”