EU lawmakers to call for sanctions on Cuban officials

In a draft resolution set to be approved later on Thursday in Strasbourg, EU lawmakers will condemn violence against protesters, human rights activists, dissidents and opposition leaders in the aftermath of the protests.

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.