The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on ten Cuban state entities, including the Ministry of Tourism, paramilitary organisations, and fuel-importing firms, freezing any assets they hold under US jurisdiction and prohibiting transactions with American persons or financial institutions. The Treasury Department set a 12 August deadline for non-US companies and financial institutions to wind down contracts with the designated entities, a measure that extends the reach of the restrictions beyond American borders.

According to the State Department, the designations target what it calls the “interconnected pillars” of the Cuban state apparatus: instruments of repression and sources of regime financing. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, invoking the fifth anniversary of the July 2021 anti-government protests, said the United States would “use all tools at our disposal” to counter threats from the “communist Cuban regime” and to press for economic and political reforms. The list includes the Milicias de Tropas Territoriales, the Asociación de Combatientes de la Revolución Cubana, the Brigadas de Respuesta Rápida, and the export firm Antex S.A., which Washington accuses of managing the export of forced labour to Angola. On the economic side, the sanctions cover the Tourism Ministry, the foreign-trade conglomerate Gecomex, the maritime transport group GEMAR, the insurance entity Caudal S.A., and the fuel importers Enetec S.A. and Coreydan S.A., the latter responsible for subsidised fuel shipments from Mexico.

Viewed from Havana, the measures are an act of political aggression. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez wrote on social media that a “Cuban-American mafia” had coalesced around the State Department to “justify crime and aggression against the Cuban people.” The Cuban government has not yet issued a formal diplomatic response. Analysts in Latin America note that the sanctions deepen the isolation of an economy already battered by a petroleum blockade imposed in January, which has exacerbated blackouts, fuel shortages, and the exit of foreign firms. Several of the newly designated entities are linked to GAESA, the military-run business conglomerate that was itself sanctioned on 1 May and has since begun divesting assets to mitigate the impact.

The latest designations rest on a May executive order that authorised the freezing of assets belonging to persons or organisations supporting Cuba’s economy, and on Executive Order 14404, which targets those involved in repression or threats to US national security. They follow earlier sanctions against President Miguel Díaz-Canel, his family, and Colonel Alejandro Castro Espín, as well as a Justice Department indictment of former President Raúl Castro over the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft. The wind-down licence for third-country parties expires on 12 August, a date that will test the willingness of international banks and trading partners to maintain residual ties with the targeted entities. The dossier remains active, with Washington signalling further steps to tighten economic pressure on the island.