Miguel Díaz‑Canel and Cuban entities hit by new US sanctions

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) officially published on August 5 the names of individuals and entities added to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List following sanctions announced in June. The designations, made under Executive Order 14404, block all U.S.-jurisdictional assets and prohibit U.S. persons from dealing with the listed parties.

Targets include Cuban President Miguel Díaz‑Canel Bermúdez, his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza, his stepson Manuel Anido Cuesta, Alejandro Castro Espín (son of Raúl Castro) and his son Raúl Alejandro Castro Calis. Designated Cuban institutions comprise the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR), the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), the Institute of Cuban Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) and its travel agency Amistur Cuba, as well as the mining company La Victoria S.A. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the measures aim at “the network that enables and finances subversive and radical operations in Cuba.”