Measures announced Thursday target actors in Cuba’s financial, energy and medical sectors, while separate US designations also hit alleged Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas funding networks.
The United States imposed sanctions on nine entities and two individuals on Thursday, accusing them of helping the Cuban government maintain control over key parts of the economy and of exploiting overseas labor. The measures, implemented under an executive order by US President Donald Trump, focus on actors in Cuba’s financial, energy and medical sectors. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said four of the targeted entities were tied to sanctions evasion for GAESA, a military-aligned conglomerate, and said the action also covers those deemed responsible for the “exploitation and forced labor” of Cuban personnel in Havana’s overseas medical brigades. Rubio said the Cuban government continues to pose a “deep multifaceted threat” to U.S. national security and hemispheric stability, citing a recent agency report on decades of attempted subversion by Havana against the US polity. The move follows a US accusation earlier this week that Cuba had carried out a decades-long espionage campaign and comes after the Treasury Department previously sanctioned President Miguel Diaz-Canel and several members of his inner circle, including relatives of former leader Raul Castro. Separately, Washington imposed sanctions on individuals and entities it accused of operating front organizations that fund Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, including Mahmoud al-Abyari and three individuals and three entities outside Egypt alleged to have provided material support to Hamas.