US Sanctions Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Wife, Stepson, and Castro Family Members

The United States imposed sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, his wife and stepson, and other individuals and entities, with the US Treasury Department adding them to the Specially Designated Nationals list to freeze US-jurisdiction assets and bar American persons from doing business with them.

“The United States has imposed sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the latest of numerous measures adopted against the communist-led island”

Al Jazeera

The sanctions were revealed on Thursday on the US Treasury’s website and were described as part of Washington’s efforts to raise pressure on Cuba’s leadership, after an energy blockade enforced by the US Navy provoked critical blackouts and food shortages.

Al Jazeera

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was going after those “who sustain the regime’s malicious campaign to subvert and destabilize U.S. national security.”

Cuba’s President Díaz-Canel accused Trump of trying to “strengthen the blockade and scenario of conflict between Cuba and the United States,” writing that the measures were designed “to harm the Cuban people.”

The sanctions included Alejandro Castro Espín, the sole son of former Cuban President Raúl Castro and Vilma Espín, and his son, Raúl Alejandro Castro Calis, with AP noting Espín served as an adviser to Cuba’s Defense and National Security Commission and was present when Raúl Castro met then-U.S. President Barack Obama in Havana in March 2016.

The Guardian said the Treasury department sanctions hit President Miguel Diaz-Canel, his wife and stepson, and also targeted the ministry of the revolutionary armed forces and several other entities, while Rubio said on X that the US was “targeting the network that enables and funds Cuba’s subversive and radical operations.”

AP News

CNN reported the sanctions also targeted the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, three other organizations tied to the Cuban government, and a Cuban-Australian mining venture.

In the same reporting, Rubio warned of secondary sanctions against “anyone dealing with entities owned 50 percent or more by GAESA, MINFAR, or the previously designated Ministry of the Interior.”

The sanctions freeze individuals’ property and bank accounts in the U.S., and AP said it was unclear how intertwined their finances are with the U.S. financial system, while Richard Feinberg said it’s “pretty unlikely” Cuba’s president and others have assets in the U.S.

“The United States has imposed sanctions on , along with his wife and three other individuals, according to a filing Thursday from the U”

CBS News

AP also quoted Feinberg saying the sanctions “could be seen as preliminary to an intervention or increasing pressure on the regime to cut a deal,” as the threats took additional weight after the U.S. announced criminal charges against Raúl Castro last month.

Trump told reporters, “We just want them to be a nicely run country,” and when asked whether Cuba is close to collapsing he said, “It’s sort of collapsed,” adding “we’re going to handle that as soon as we’ve finished” military operations in Iran.

The Guardian framed the move as part of Washington’s ramping up of pressure, and it said Rubio warned that “Anyone providing services to these sanctioned actors is at risk of sanctions themselves,” while also quoting his call that the US would “no longer tolerate radical Marxist regimes” exporting their “poisonous and evil ‘revolution’.”