The Trump administration escalated its pressure campaign against Cuba on Thursday, sanctioning Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, members of his family, relatives of the Castro dynasty, Cuba’s military ministry, and regime-linked entities accused of helping prop up Havana’s communist power structure.
The new designations, announced under President Trump’s May 1 executive order, mark one of Washington’s most direct moves yet against Cuba’s ruling elite. They target Díaz-Canel, his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza, his stepson Miguel Anido Cuesta, Alejandro Castro Espín — the son of former Cuban dictator Raúl Castro — and Castro Espín’s son, Raúl Alejandro Castro Calis.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio framed the action as part of a broader effort to cut off the regime’s access to money, influence, and international support.
“The Cuban people are the hostages of a brutal and repressive government,” Rubio said, accusing Havana of serving as an “outpost” for U.S. adversaries and exporting radical left-wing violence across the hemisphere.
The sanctions also hit Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, known as MINFAR, which controls major parts of the island’s economy through military-linked enterprises. Under the order, entities owned 50 percent or more by MINFAR — or by the already-sanctioned military conglomerate GAESA — are also considered blocked.
That matters because GAESA has long been viewed by Cuba hawks as the financial engine of the regime. Rubio has previously described it as “the heart of Cuba’s kleptocratic communist system.”
The Trump administration also sanctioned the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, and Minera la Victoria, a Cuban-Australian gold mining venture U.S. officials say benefits regime elites.
The broader message is aimed not only at Havana, but also at foreign banks, mining firms, tourism operators, and companies still doing business with sanctioned Cuban entities. Legal analysts say Trump’s May 1 order significantly widened the sanctions risk for non-U.S. companies by authorizing penalties against foreign firms and financial institutions that conduct or facilitate transactions with designated Cuban actors.
Havana responded angrily. Cuban officials accused Washington of trying to manufacture conflict and intensify what they call the U.S. blockade. Díaz-Canel said the measures were designed to harm the Cuban people, while Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez described the broader sanctions push as “collective punishment.”
But the White House says the sanctions are aimed at regime officials, military power brokers, and entities responsible for repression, corruption, and threats to U.S. national security.
The move comes amid a worsening economic and energy crisis in Cuba, where food shortages, blackouts, and declining tourism have deepened public frustration. Trump has also sharpened his rhetoric toward Havana in recent weeks, saying Cuba has “sort of collapsed” and suggesting the United States would “handle” the situation after other foreign policy priorities.
For Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and one of Washington’s most vocal critics of the Castro regime, the sanctions reflect a long-running view: that Cuba’s government is not merely a failed dictatorship, but an active security threat tied to hostile foreign actors and regional instability.
“We will continue to take action,” Rubio warned in May, “until the regime takes all necessary political and economic reforms.”
