US tightens Cuba sanctions, targets state firms and travel-linked dealings

The Trump administration has imposed fresh penalties on Cuban state firms and ICAP leaders. The move deepens economic pressure on Havana and tightens restrictions on American dealings.

In Short

• Treasury and State departments penalised 10 entities across mining, metals and construction
• ICAP leaders were sanctioned over alleged efforts to influence Americans
• Marco Rubio linked the institute to a subversive network inside America

The Donald Trump administration is stepping up pressure on Cuba with fresh economic penalties and tighter enforcement of rules that bar Americans visiting the island from dealing with government-owned or government-linked businesses. The move targets more industries in the already heavily sanctioned socialist country.

The US Treasury and State departments said on Thursday they were imposing new penalties on 10 state-owned mining, metal and construction companies, along with the leadership of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, or ICAP. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the institute of backing activities in the United States.

Rubio said ICAP was responsible for sponsoring "a vast subversive network in the United States aimed at identifying, cultivating, and radicalising" Americans. In a statement obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its official release, he said, "Just days ago, the regime attempted to use Communist kingpin and despot Fidel Castro's 100th birthday to reinvigorate this subversive network, ferrying a new brigade of international sympathisers to Havana to network with regime officials."

He added, "The Trump Administration will not stand by while a hostile foreign power seeks to exploit our freedoms - none of which are afforded to its people - by misleading and corrupting American citizens with lies, spy tradecraft, and other malfeasance as part of the regime's raison d'tre of exporting Marxism, racial resentment, and Communist violence across the world."

Trump's Republican administration has steadily increased pressure on Havana, including warning of possible military intervention while also tightening economic sanctions aimed at cutting off funding for the Cuban government. The report said a US oil blockade on Cuba, imposed after an American military raid that ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, whose country had provided Cuba with free oil, had pushed the already struggling island into a deeper crisis.

Cuba has regularly denounced US sanctions and the decades-old embargo on the island, accusing successive US administrations of unfairly targeting a poor nation and its people over ideological differences and its proximity to the United States. The latest US measures deepen pressure on key Cuban state entities while widening restrictions on American dealings with them.

With PTI Inputs

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