The US State Department said on Thursday that eight more Cuban officials, whose identities were not revealed, will face visa restrictions as a result of the arrest and prosecution of persons who took part in the July 11 protests.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted in a statement that “the State Department took measures today to impose visa restrictions on eight Cuban officials complicit in attempts to silence the voices of the Cuban people through repression, unlawful detentions, and harsh prison sentences.”

About 600 protesters are still in custody, according to Blinken, with some “in poor health conditions and without access to food, medicine, or calls to their loved ones.”

Although Blinken has not published the names of those sanctioned, it is possible that these are the prosecutors who advocated disproportionate punishments against the demonstrators and whose names have been circulated on social media in recent days.

Thousands of Cubans took to the streets on July 11 to demand the resignation of President Miguel Dáz-Canel, which was unprecedented on the island in more than six decades. The protests took place in the midst of worsening food and medical shortages, extended power outages, and skyrocketing inflation.

These protests were followed by a wave of arrests of hundreds of people critical of the government, which included peaceful marches, skirmishes with the police, and occasional looting.

After the regime’s acts of repudiation against him, dramatist Yunior Garca Aguilera, one of the leaders of the Archipelago platform and the major advocate of 15N (15 November), had to flee Cuba. He stated he was landing in Spain “with our ideas intact” after getting off an Iberia flight with his wife, Dayana Prieto.

The US announced penalties against nine other Cuban officials in November, and put visa restrictions on them. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the step on Twitter and reaffirmed his administration’s support for the people of the island “in their fight for fundamental freedoms.”

According to Blinken, the sanctions were intended to punish “those who impede the potential of the Cuban people to better their political, economic, and security conditions” in the face of repression of the Civic March of 15N. The official, however, did not provide any information on who was targeted by these steps.

In response to an email received shortly after from the 14ymedio newsroom, the State Department similarly denied to divulge the identities of individuals who had been reprimanded. “We are taking procedures to prevent nine people from entering the United States, including high-ranking members of the Interior and Armed Forces Ministries.”