The United States has announced another round of economic sanctions against Cuba, targeting nine state‑owned mining, metal and construction companies.
The sanctions, listed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s website on Thursday, include Cuba’s Ministry of Construction and government‑controlled import firms.
Also sanctioned are mineral extraction enterprises such as the mining group GEOMINSAL, which processes Cuba’s significant cobalt and nickel deposits.
In addition to the nine entities, three leaders of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) have been targeted.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a longtime advocate for change in Cuba, described the targeted groups as national security threats, accusing them of “sustaining the regime’s repressive apparatus” and claiming ICAP organizes a “subversive network” of international sympathizers.
Rubio warned that the Trump administration will not tolerate a hostile foreign power exploiting American freedoms through misinformation and espionage.
He added that ICAP’s activities help Cuba export “Marxism, racial resentment, and Communist violence” worldwide.
The Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign includes a fuel blockade, cutting off Venezuelan oil supplies and threatening tariffs on other fuel exporters, leaving only a Russian tanker docking in Cuba.
Energy shortages and medicine scarcity have caused blackouts and deteriorating health outcomes, prompting UN officials to warn of a humanitarian crisis.
UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk highlighted rising infant mortality and cancer survival declines linked to the sanctions, urging their immediate lifting.
Nevertheless, the administration maintains that Cuba poses a national security threat, justifying the sanctions.