# Plain Language Summary: DEMOCRACIA Act

This bill creates new economic sanctions targeting Cuba's military, security, and intelligence sectors. Specifically, it punishes foreign companies and individuals who do business with Cuba's defense, security, or intelligence operations. If a foreign company provides financial support, technology, or engages in transactions with these Cuban government sectors—or with entities that are more than 25 percent owned by these sectors—the U.S. government can impose sanctions against that foreign company. This could include freezing their assets in the United States or blocking them from doing business with American companies.

The bill is built on the argument that Cuba's military and security forces are responsible for human rights abuses, suppressing political dissidents, and supporting international terrorism. Congress is essentially saying that by cutting off money and business deals flowing to these sectors, they hope to weaken the Cuban government's ability to commit these abuses. The bill does include some exceptions—for example, it still allows the sale of food and medicine to Cuba (which existing law already permits), family remittances to ordinary Cubans, and operations at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay.

The practical effect is that foreign companies doing business with Cuba's military or security sectors face a choice: either stop those dealings or face U.S. sanctions. This could affect international businesses, particularly those from countries that have trade relationships with Cuba. For ordinary Americans, the bill doesn't directly change daily life, but it reinforces the existing U.S. embargo against Cuba by adding another layer of financial pressure on the Cuban government's most powerful institutions.

DEMOCRACIA Act

Donalds, Byron

Denying Earnings to the Military Oligarchy in Cuba and Restricting Activities of the Cuban Intelligence Apparatus Act or the DEMOCRACIA Act This bill provides for asset- and visa-blocking sanctions for conduct relating to Cuba. It also establishes an interagency task force to facilitate access to uncensored internet in Cuba. The President must sanction foreign persons that provide financial support to specified Cuban government sectors (e.g., the defense sector) or any other government sector that the President certifies is involved in human rights abuses or terrorism. This includes foreign persons that (1) are military contractors or mercenaries operating on behalf of the Cuban government, or (2) violate laws restricting trade with Cuba. Specified transactions, including remittances to immediate family members (subject to some limitations) and payments related to U.S. military and diplomatic sites, are not subject to these sanctions. The President must also sanction (1) foreign persons complicit or engaged in human rights abuses or corruption, (2) foreign persons supporting such conduct, and (3) specified Cuban government officials and their affiliates. The bill provides humanitarian exceptions to these sanctions, for example, donating food or agricultural commodities to organizations or individuals unaffiliated with the Cuban government. The President may not license sanctionable conduct, and U.S. persons seeking to engage in a permitted transaction must submit a written request to the Office of Foreign Asset Control of the Department of the Treasury. The President may waive the sanctions in the interest of U.S. national security. To terminate the sanctions, the President must certify that the Cuban government has legalized all political activities and taken other steps to promote political rights and freedoms. Congress must then enact a joint resolution approving the termination.