Cuba Falling: These Sanctions Are Getting Mighty Personal

Just when you think the Donald Trump administration can't squeeze the Cuban regime any harder, it does something that makes me react like this: 

via GIPHY

If you'll recall, Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month, calling Cuba an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the United States. It essentially allows Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent to sanction the regime and the Castro family until their beautiful hearts are content. 

Rubio has taken the president up on this. As I've been reporting over the last couple of weeks, he hit GAESA with a major blow: blanket sanctions that freeze its U.S. assets, punish anyone in the United States who does business with GAESA, and, quite importantly, punish any foreign people, companies, and financial institutions that do business with GAESA. We've already seen major shipping companies halt all shipments to Cuba in recent days.  

In case you forgot, GAESA is Raúl Castro's military apparatus that functions like a state within a state. It controls half of the so-called Cuban economy and keeps the powers that be wealthy while the people of the country starve. Rubio calls it "the heart of Cuba’s kleptocratic communist system." 

This week, the Secretary of State has issued new Cuban sanctions, and these get a lot more personal. On Monday, he "designated 11 Cuban regime elites and three government organizations, including government officials and military figures associated with Cuba’s security apparatus, many of whom are responsible for or have been involved in repressing the Cuban people."  

Here's more from the State Department:

These sanctions advance the Trump Administration’s comprehensive campaign to address the pressing national security threats posed by Cuba’s communist regime and to hold accountable both the regime and those who provide it material support. Regime-aligned actors such as those designated today bear responsibility for the suffering of the Cuban people, the failing Cuban economy, and the exploitation of Cuba for foreign intelligence, military, and terror operations. Today’s designations further restrict the Cuban regime’s ability to suppress the will of the Cuban people.  Additional sanctions actions can be expected in the following days and weeks.    

The State Department also gave a list of exactly who it designated. The three government organizations are: 

• The Ministry of Interior (MININT), which "is responsible for Cuba’s internal security, to include controlling Cuba’s police, internal security forces, intelligence agencies, and the country’s prison system." 
• Policia Nacional Revolucionaria (PNR), which "is a police force under MININT accused of operating mobile prisons and violent suppression of protests." 
•  Directorate of Intelligence of Cuba (DGI), which "is the primary intelligence agency of the Government of Cuba under MININT."

As for the individual thugs who were sanctioned, I'm just going to share that straight from the State Department's fact sheet on the matter:  

EDDY MANUEL SIERRA ARIAS (SIERRA), the Chief of the General Directorate of the PNR, which is being concurrently designated pursuant to E.O. 14404.  Today’s designation of SIERRA builds upon his prior designation pursuant to E.O. 13818; 

OSCAR ALEJANDRO CALLEJAS VALCARCE (CALLEJAS), the Chief of the Political Directorate of the concurrently designated MININT and the former Director of the also concurrently designated PNR.  Today’s designation of CALLEJAS expands upon his prior designation pursuant to E.O. 13818; 

ROSABEL GAMON VERDE, the Minister of Justice of Cuba;   

JOAQUIN QUINTAS SOLA, the Deputy Minister of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces; 

JUAN ESTEBAN LAZO HERNANDEZ, the President of Cuba’s National Assembly for People’s Power; 

VICENTE DE LA O LEVY, the Minister of Energy and Mines of Cuba; 

MAYRA AREVICH MARIN, the Minister of Communications of Cuba;  

JOSE MIGUEL GOMEZ DEL VALLIN, the Chief of Staff of Military Counterintelligence; 

RAUL VILLAR KESSELL, the Chief of the Central Army of Cuba;  

ROBERTO TOMAS MORALES OJEDA, a member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of the Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba; and 

EUGENIO ARMANDO RABILERO AGUILERA, the Chief of the Eastern Army of Cuba. 

Those are some pretty big names. 

And if you'll recall, CIA Director John Ratcliffe was just in Havana a few days ago, meeting with several people, including intelligence officials; Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, Raúl Castro's grandson; and Interior Minister Lázaro Álvarez Casas. He supposedly delivered a message directly from Trump, stating: "The U.S. is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes." Word on the street is that he reminded them what happened to Nicolás Maduro when he decided not to play by Trump's rules.

I'd take these sanctions as proof that Trump and Rubio aren't bluffing. 

I'm writing this on Tuesday evening, and there are strong rumors that big news will come out on Wednesday (May 20) regarding Cuba. My best guess is that the Department of Justice's will unseal a long awaited federal indictment for 94-year-old Castro. I'll keep you updated and report back as soon as we know more.  

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.

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