Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a fresh round of sanctions on the Cuban regime on Tuesday.
Rubio designated five entities generating revenue for the current Cuban regime, including three associated with the previously designated Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), and one member of the extended Castro family.
“Today, I am designating five Cuban entities generating revenue for the Cuban regime, including three associated with the previously designated Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), and one member of the extended Castro family pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order (E.O.) 14404 of May 1, 2026, “Imposing Sanctions on Those Responsible for Repression in Cuba and for Threats to United States National Security and Foreign Policy,” Rubio said in a statement.
“GAESA continues to operate as the financial muscle behind the Cuban regime’s repressive security apparatus. Two of the entities designated today are GAESA-linked financial institutions associated with moving money on the regime’s behalf, and one is a GAESA-linked logistics company that executes the regime’s bidding across the island,” Rubio continued.
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“I am also designating two additional entities generating revenue for Cuba through the exploitation of the island’s mineral and metal reserves, including Cuba’s state-owned GeoMinera. Finally, I am designating the wife of Alejandro Castro Espín, who himself was previously designated pursuant to E.O. 14404. These entities and actors fund, facilitate, or benefit from the regime’s malign activities, both in Cuba and across our hemisphere,” Rubio’s statement concluded.
GAESA, a military-controlled conglomerate, has repeatedly redirected aid meant for the Cuban people to the Cuban regime, Rubio has previously charged.
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Rubio’s Tuesday announcement expands upon what was already the most significant package of U.S. sanctions on Cuban entities in decades. In early June, the Trump Administration levied broad secondary sanctions against businesses and banks that do business with GAESA and other Castro regime-linked entities.
The move came under a framework established by an executive order President Donald Trump signed in May.
Rubio, in a Tuesday post on X, detailed what he described as a “devolving situation” in Cuba.
“The situation in Cuba is devolving as the island’s corrupt, brutal and anti-American Communist regime continues to prioritize its own total control over the freedom, opportunity and basic wellbeing of the Cuban people,” he wrote.
“The Cuban military-controlled conglomerate GAESA has persistently served as the main vector for regime elites to steal the island’s few resources, diverting them for repression, anti-American subversion and spying instead of schools, power plants, and basic necessities for the Cuban people. Today, I designated additional GAESA network entities associated with moving both its money and its physical assets, as well as entities responsible for exploiting Cuba’s mineral and metal reserves for ill-gotten profit,” Rubio continued.
“Anyone providing services to these sanctioned actors is at risk of being sanctioned themselves. Foreign banks and other companies that provide services to these entities should freeze those activities immediately,” he concluded.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
