The United States has placed three Cuban nationals in federal custody and initiated deportation proceedings, accusing them of serving as operatives for a Havana-directed influence and intelligence network. The State Department announced on Wednesday that Carlos Antonio Lloga Domínguez, his wife and son had their legal status revoked after he allegedly spent more than a decade working for the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), an organisation Washington describes as the “central node” of a sprawling Cuban intelligence operation. The detentions mark a shift from financial sanctions to direct immigration enforcement against individuals accused of advancing Cuban state interests on US soil.

The move is the latest element of a multi-pronged Trump administration campaign to destabilise Cuba’s single-party government. Since January, Washington has imposed a de facto naval blockade that restricts fuel deliveries, triggering prolonged blackouts and crippling the island’s healthcare system. The Treasury Department has sanctioned ICAP and other solidarity groups, while the Justice Department unsealed an indictment against former president Raúl Castro over the 1996 downing of civilian aircraft. A carrier strike group led by the USS Nimitz has been positioned in the region, and President Trump has publicly stated his intention to “take” or “liberate” Cuba. US officials frame the measures as a response to decades of communist subversion and a refusal to allow America to become a haven for foreign agents.

Havana rejects the characterisation of ICAP as an intelligence front, insisting it is a civil-society organisation that facilitates humanitarian and cultural exchanges. The Cuban government has not publicly commented on the specific detentions, but it has responded to the broader economic suffocation by announcing a sweeping liberalisation plan that includes privatising state enterprises and creating private banks — a departure from decades of central planning. The humanitarian convoy that delivered aid to the island in March, which included US political commentator Hasan Piker and former British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, has drawn federal scrutiny; participants have received administrative subpoenas from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control over potential sanctions violations. Cuban authorities describe the US pressure as an illegal blockade aimed at regime change.

The detentions widen an investigation that US officials say now encompasses more than 2,000 organisations across 150 countries, including American nonprofits such as CodePink and the ANSWER Coalition that are alleged to have coordinated with ICAP. The State Department has warned that anyone transacting with the sanctioned group risks prosecution or deportation. Direct talks between the CIA and Cuban counterparts, initiated in May, have made little headway, according to US officials. The three Cuban nationals remain in federal custody pending removal; their deportation would be the first such expulsions linked to the influence network, signalling that Washington intends to enforce its sanctions not only through financial penalties but also through immigration law.