US Adds Sanctions to Cuban State Firms and Officials

On August 21, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a new wave of sanctions against Cuban companies and political figures, calling the targets "subversive anti‑American actors" who have been networking with the regime around the anniversary of former leader Fidel Castro’s 100th birthday.

The list includes nine state‑owned entities in the mining, metals, and construction sectors, the Ministry of Construction itself, and leaders linked to the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP). Rubio said the institute’s president, Fernando González Llort, was part of a spy ring known as the Cuban 5, a point he used to emphasize the alleged corruption of American citizens by the Cuban government.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez slammed the sanctions on social media, labeling them a form of punitive economic warfare that could cripple essential services and aggravate an already dire blockade that has kept the island from importing fuels needed for electricity and hospitals.

The U.S. oil blockade, imposed earlier this year, has left Havana’s aging electrical grid reliant on emergency generators and led to frequent nationwide blackouts. Protests over power cuts are rare, but the mounting shortages are fueling socioeconomic stress.

The targeting of Cuban industry and foreign‑policy outreach comes against a backdrop of a collapsing tourism sector and escalating sanctions on energy, finance and defence. The United States says the move intends to cut off funding for a regime Robinson calls “marginalised in the U.S. public’s view of Cuban policy.”