EU lawmakers call for sanctions on Cuban officials

The European Parliament called on Thursday on the 27-nation bloc to impose sanctions on those responsible for human rights violations in Cuba after a wave of detentions following anti-government protests on the island in July. In a resolution in Strasbourg, EU lawmakers condemned violence against protesters, human rights activists, dissidents and opposition leaders in the aftermath of the protests.

The European Parliament called on Thursday on the 27-nation bloc to impose sanctions on those responsible for human rights violations in Cuba after a wave of detentions following anti-government protests on the island in July.

In a resolution in Strasbourg, EU lawmakers condemned violence against protesters, human rights activists, dissidents and opposition leaders in the aftermath of the protests. Lawmakers voted 426 in favour, 146 against with 115 abstentions.

The resolution is not legally binding but follows years of EU tensions with Havana about Cuba's human rights record, over which the EU imposed had previously imposed sanctions before lifting them in 2008. In August, the United States imposed new sanctions on three Cuban officials it said were involved in the suppression of nationwide anti-government protests that began on July 11.

The Cuban government blamed the protests on counter-revolutionaries backed by the United States.

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