The United States on Thursday announced new economic sanctions targeting Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, several of his immediate family members, and members of the Castro family, according to a statement from the U.S. Treasury Department. The move marks the latest escalation in Washington’s campaign to pressure its neighbor led by the Communist Party.
Those sanctioned include the son and a grandson of former President Raúl Castro—who, while no longer in formal office, remains a key figure in decisions about the island’s future. Diaz-Canel’s wife and stepchildren were also added to the sanctions list, along with Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and several other entities.
The sanctions expand on earlier measures, including U.S. visa restrictions imposed on the Cuban president and other senior officials in 2025. President Donald Trump has repeatedly hinted that Cuba’s government could be the next target in U.S. pressure campaigns after Venezuela.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on social media platform X that Washington is “targeting the network supporting and funding Cuba’s subversive and extremist activities” because the U.S. “will no longer tolerate extreme Marxist regimes” exporting their “poisonous and evil revolution” to America and other nations. Rubio emphasized that the sanctions now apply to Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Institute of Friendship with the Peoples of Cuba, Amistur Cuba, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution.
“Anyone providing services to these sanctioned entities risks being sanctioned themselves. Foreign banks and other companies that provide services to these entities should freeze those operations,” Rubio declared. The U.S. embargo against Cuba has lasted for decades, but President Trump has sharply increased pressure in recent months, including a de facto fuel blockade that deepens the energy crisis and heavily impacts the island’s already fragile economy.
