Biden Says New Cuba Sanctions Are "Just The Beginning" Biden Says New Cuba Sanctions Are "Just The Beginning" President Biden says the newly announced sanctions against Cuba are "just the beginning" after rare widespread protests took over multiple cities on the communist-run island starting earlier in July. In the Thursday fresh sanctions announcement Biden condemned "the mass detentions and sham trials that are unjustly sentencing to prison those who dared to speak out in an effort to intimidate and threaten the Cuban people into silence," according to a White House statement . Specifically these latest sanctions target the defense minister and the National Special Brigade of Cubas Interior Ministry (on top of broader decades-long US sanctions against the government and economy). Cuban Americans at a protest in Miami, via AP Biden said these two officials in particular are spearheading the crackdown on Cuban protesters. He suggested there''s much more to come. "This is just the beginning the United States will continue to sanction individuals responsible for oppression of the Cuban people," Biden said.