The Department of State has updated the Cuba Restricted List with five additional sub-entities owned by the Cuban military. The changes take effect today. The Department will continue to update the list as needed to ensure U.S. funds do not directly support Cuba’s security apparatus. Cuba’s military, security, and intelligence services suppress the human rights of the Cuban people and are deeply entrenched in Venezuela, providing security services to the former regime of Nicolas Maduro and contributing to its oppression of the Venezuelan people.

In accordance with the June 2017 National Security Presidential Memorandum-5, “Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba,” the U.S. government generally prohibits direct financial transactions with listed entities and sub-entities because they would disproportionately benefit the Cuban military, intelligence, and security services or personnel, at the expense of the Cuban people or private enterprise in Cuba.

For more information on the regulations prohibiting direct financial transactions with entities and sub-entities on the Cuba Restricted List, please refer to the November 2017 regulatory amendments by the Departments of the Treasury (31 CFR part 515) and Commerce (15 CFR parts 730-774). The Federal Register notice can be found here.

For further information, please contact WHA Press at WHA_Press@state.gov and EB Press at EB-A-PD-DL@state.gov.

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The United States condemns today’s decision by President Putin to provide expedited Russian citizenship to Ukrainians living in Russia-controlled eastern Ukraine. Russia, through this highly provocative action, is intensifying its assault on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

President Putin’s decision creates a serious obstacle to the implementation of the Minsk agreements and the reintegration of the Donbas region. The Minsk agreements, signed by Russia, call for the full restoration of Ukrainian government control over eastern Ukraine.

This comes just three days after the Ukrainian people overwhelmingly elected Volodymyr Zelenskyy the next president of Ukraine. President-elect Zelenskyy has repeatedly expressed his readiness to engage seriously with Russia to implement the Minsk agreements, and to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has claimed some 13,000 lives. It is now up to Russia to decide whether it wants to continue to escalate tensions or meet its Minsk commitments.

The Office of Website Management, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department.
External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.

Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce will travel April 23-29 to the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago to promote and strengthen the State Department’s cultural and educational diplomacy efforts in the Western Hemisphere.

While in the Dominican Republic, Assistant Secretary Royce will meet with government officials, ECA program alumni, Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) partners, and disaster risk management experts, as well as tour an ECA-funded cultural restoration project. She will also launch the American English teacher’s guide for Dominican teachers, and visit the first-in-the-world American English Lounge at our binational center in Santo Domingo.

In Trinidad and Tobago, Assistant Secretary Royce will highlight achievements by women leaders in Trinidad and Tobago during the Embassy’s Women of Courage Award ceremony, and participate in a workshop addressing solutions to countering crime and violent extremism. She will also meet with government officials, and with ECA program alumni.

For further information, contact ECA-Press@state.gov. Follow along on Twitter at @ECA_AS.

The Office of Website Management, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department.
External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.

The Secretary’s Special Representative for Syria Engagement Ambassador Jim Jeffrey will travel to Geneva, Switzerland April 24. Ambassador Jeffrey will meet with United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen to discuss the conflict in Syria and the United States’ ongoing support for the UN-led process in Geneva and UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2254. He will also discuss progress on Pedersen’s efforts to reinvigorate the political process, the need for constitutional reform and free and fair elections, and reinforce Geneva’s place as the venue for creating a permanent political solution to the Syrian conflict.

The Office of Website Management, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department.
External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.

Jennifer Newstead is an exceptional lawyer who has served the American people, our State Department team, and the Trump Administration faithfully as our Legal Adviser. Her expertise and sharp judgment on an array of critical foreign policy issues will be greatly missed. As the first woman ever to head the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser, she exemplified the leadership qualities for which American diplomats are renowned the world over. I thank her for her outstanding service, and wish her all the best in the next phase of her career.

The Office of Website Management, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department.
External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.