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The State Department has rolled out new sanctions on five Cuban entities and eight individuals accused of helping Havana buy and maintain weapons, including Cuba’s defense minister and its military attachés to Russia and China.
Getting into it: Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions Thursday. The targets:
- GAESA subsidiaries — the military-run conglomerate that controls at least 40 percent of the Cuban economy.
- Tecnoimport — imports military equipment from Russia and China on behalf of Cuba’s armed forces, according to the State Department.
- Union de Industria Militar — manufactures and repairs weapons systems for the Cuban military.
- EMI Yuri Gagarin — repairs and maintains Cuba’s fleet of Russian-made military aircraft.
- Álvaro López Miera — Cuba’s defense minister and head of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
- Roberto Legra Sotolongo — chief of the general staff.
- Cuba’s military attachés to Russia and China, along with other individuals tied to military procurement.
In a statement, Secretary Rubio said “The Cuban Communist regime is a state sponsor of terrorism that spies on America, arms violent left-wing radicals, spreads poisonous Marxist ideology, and serves as a staging ground for Russia, China & Iran just 90 miles from our shores. As President Trump has said: the United States will not tolerate a rogue state harboring hostile military, intelligence & terror operations on our doorstep.”
He also warned that “Anyone supporting, sponsoring, or providing services to these sanctioned actors is at risk of being sanctioned themselves. Foreign banks and other companies that provide services to, or hold funds for, these entities should terminate those activities immediately.”
The sanctions fall under Executive Order 14404, which Trump signed May 1, authorizing penalties against Cuban officials, the security services, and anyone propping them up. They are one piece of a broader squeeze by the Trump administration to force regime change in Cuba, with officials openly calling for Cuba’s president to step down in exchange for sanctions relief.
Over the last year, the US has reinstated Cuba’s state sponsor of terrorism designation and declared a national emergency that imposes tariffs on any country supplying oil to the island. The resulting eight-month blockade has left the island with frequent blackouts.
This all comes as President Miguel Díaz-Canel told Parliament on Monday that “the path is difficult, the situation is complex, but the will to triumph is unshakable,” adding, “We are not a nation in dispute nor a colony; we are a sovereign people who has decided its destiny.”






