US Sanctions 9 Cuban State Firms and 3 ICAP Leaders as Trump Escalates Pressure
Updated
Updated · Al Jazeera English · Aug 21
US Sanctions 9 Cuban State Firms and 3 ICAP Leaders as Trump Escalates Pressure
3 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · Aug 21
Summary
Nine Cuban state-owned mining, metal and construction firms, plus three leaders of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, were added to new US sanctions under a Trump administration order issued in May.
Marco Rubio said the companies help sustain Cuba’s “repressive apparatus” and accused ICAP of running a subversive network that misleads and corrupts American citizens, framing the measures as a national security response.
The targets include the Ministry of Construction, government-controlled import companies and mining group GEOMINSAL, which operates in a sector tied to Cuba’s cobalt and nickel deposits.
The move extends Washington’s 2026 “maximum pressure” campaign, which already includes a de facto fuel blockade that has left only 1 Russian tanker docking since January.
UN officials have warned the tightening sanctions are worsening blackouts, medicine shortages and child health outcomes, raising the risk of a humanitarian crisis on the island.
As U.S. sanctions tighten on Cuba's state-owned giants, will foreign investors be forced to abandon their assets to avoid global financial ruin?
With widespread blackouts and severe shortages escalating, could the latest financial blockade trigger a total collapse of Cuba's fragile infrastructure?