U.S. sanctions Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel in latest pressure on its leadership

politics

U.S. sanctions Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel in latest pressure on its leadership

The United States has imposed sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, along with his wife and three other individuals, according to a filing Thursday from the U.S. Treasury Department. It's the latest Trump administration move to pressure the island's leadership.

TL;DR

U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza, Alejandro Castro Espín, Castro Espín's son Raúl Alejandro Castro Calis, and Díaz-Canel's stepson Miguel Anido Cuesta.
This is the latest move by the Trump administration to pressure Cuba's leadership, following threats of military action and an energy blockade.
The sanctions freeze individuals' property and bank accounts in the U.S.
President Trump commented on Cuba's economic collapse and stated the sanctions aim for the country to be "nicely run."
Senator Marco Rubio stated that those sanctioned direct or fund the regime and its revolutionary movements.
Alejandro Castro Espín is the son of former President Raúl Castro and Vilma Espín, and served as an adviser to Cuba's Defense and National Security Commission.
Díaz-Canel, who took office in 2018, has led Cuba during a severe economic and energy crisis, worsened by U.S. sanctions.
The sanctions come after a previous round targeting other Cuban officials and a CIA visit to Havana with a message about potential engagement conditional on "fundamental changes."

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Secretary Marco Rubio

Today’s sanctions demonstrate that the Trump Administration will not stand by while Cuba’s communist regime threatens our national security in our hemisphere. We will continue to take action until the regime takes all necessary political and economic reforms.

Secretary Marco Rubio

Adys Lastres Morera is the sister of the Executive President of GAESA, the Cuban military-controlled financial conglomerate that steals millions in aid for the Cuban people at the behest of the regime.

Morera was managing real estate assets and living in Florida, while also aiding Havana's communist regime, until I terminated her permanent resident status.

I am pleased to announce that today, she was arrested and is now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

There will be nowhere on this Earth - much less in our country - where foreign nationals who threaten our national security can live lavishly.

Secretary Marco Rubio

For decades, Cuba has been the world capital for radical left-wing terrorism. The regime in Havana has recruited, trained and backed violent Marxist and third-worldist movements across our hemisphere and beyond. Today, we are targeting the network that enables and funds Cuba's subversive and radical operations.

Pursuant to sanctions authorities created by President Trump’s groundbreaking Cuba Executive Order, I am designating the following entities:

1. Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba (MINFAR)

2. Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP)

3. Amistur Cuba S.A.

4. Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR)

5. Minera La Victoria S.A.

Anyone providing services to these sanctioned actors is at risk of sanctions themselves. Foreign banks and other companies that provide services to these entities should freeze those activities.

The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate radical Marxist regimes in our hemisphere seeking to threaten U.S. national security and engage in influence operations to export their poisonous and evil “revolution” to our country and around the world.

Secretary Marco Rubio

The Murillo-Ortega dictatorship is an enemy of humanity. The Trump Administration will not ignore their crimes and brutality, including the dictatorship’s singular role in the death of political opposition leader Brooklyn Rivera. Today, @StateDept took steps to impose visa restrictions on over 100 Nicaraguan officials who continue to carry out Murillo and Ortega’s malign agenda.

Secretary Marco Rubio

Today, I am sanctioning Cuba’s state-owned energy company, Unión Cuba-Petróleo (CUPET), under President Trump’s EO 14404. Cuba’s Communist elites have weaponized energy as a tool of social control and kleptocratic profit.

For decades, the regime has stolen and hoarded available fuel — using it for the Castros’ private jet, the security services forces used to repress the Cuban people, to keep empty tourist hotels lit up, and to bus people in for fake protests and political stunts — all while the Cuban people have suffered blackouts and waited weeks to fill their cars.

President Trump wants a new future for the Cuban people with greater economic and political freedom and opportunity. Until then, we will continue to target the Communist regime’s ability to leverage its energy trade to further its corrupt agenda and violently repress the Cuban people.

Secretary Marco Rubio

The situation in Cuba is devolving as the island’s corrupt, brutal and anti-American Communist regime continues to prioritize its own total control over the freedom, opportunity and basic wellbeing of the Cuban people.

The Cuban military-controlled conglomerate GAESA has persistently served as the main vector for regime elites to steal the island’s few resources, diverting them for repression, anti-American subversion and spying instead of schools, power plants, and basic necessities for the Cuban people. Today, I designated additional GAESA network entities associated with moving both its money and its physical assets, as well as entities responsible for exploiting Cuba’s mineral and metal reserves for ill-gotten profit.

Anyone providing services to these sanctioned actors is at risk of being sanctioned themselves. Foreign banks and other companies that provide services to these entities should freeze those activities immediately.

Secretary Marco Rubio

The Cuban Communist regime continues to exploit its people and serve as the leading sponsor of radical leftism and political violence in our hemisphere. Today, I designated nine entities and two individuals associated with the dictatorship, including four malign actors profiting from the exploitation and forced labor of the regime’s overseas medical brigades and a sanctions evasion network associated with the kleptocratic military conglomerate, GAESA.

Anyone supporting, sponsoring, or providing services to these sanctioned actors is at risk of being sanctioned themselves. Foreign banks and other companies that provide services to, or hold funds for, these entities should suspend those activities immediately.

https://t.co/azxZH4dXNI

Secretary Marco Rubio

The Cuban Communist regime is a state sponsor of terrorism that spies on America, arms violent left-wing radicals, spreads poisonous Marxist ideology, and serves as a staging ground for Russia, China & Iran just 90 miles from our shores. Today I sanctioned five Cuban entities and eight individuals associated with procuring arms for the regime. As President Trump has said: the United States will not tolerate a rogue state harboring hostile military, intelligence & terror operations on our doorstep.

https://t.co/CuEr4ft0Is

Secretary Marco Rubio

The Cuban regime has spent decades using front groups to infiltrate, corrupt, and radicalize Americans. Today, I'm sanctioning the leadership of ICAP, which is one of the primary organizations involved in these efforts—including convicted Cuban spy Fernando González Llort—and nine entities that sustain and fund the regime's repressive apparatus.

https://t.co/Dtnn1ADjCz