I'm pretty sure I say this every time I start a new update in my attempt to document the fall of the Cuban regime lately, but how much more pressure can it take? On May 1, Donald Trump signed an executive order that basically allows Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent to sanction the heck out of the country's "leadership," given that they're a threat to our national security, and they have taken advantage of that almost weekly since.
They've gone after Grupo de Administración Empresaria (GAESA), the Castro family's military apparatus that functions like a state within a state, runs the majority of the Cuban "economy," and makes it so that the regime and various military generals get rich, while the people starve and sit in the dark. More recently, the Trump administration got even more specific and went after "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."
Thursday's sanctions are just downright bold. Rubio and Bessent went after Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez himself, the country's current "president." (I always put that in quotes because he's really just a hand-picked puppet for the Castros.) They also include his wife, Lis Cuesta Peraza; his stepson, Manuel Anido Cuesta; and Alejandro Castro Espin, who is the son of Raúl Castro, as well as Raul Alejandro Castro Calis, who is Raúl's grandson.
Additionally, Rubio sanctioned the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba (MINFAR), the government ministry in charge of the military; the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), an organization founded in 1960 by Fidel Castro that supports Cuban intelligence and counterintelligence activities; Amistur Cuba SA, which the State Department calls a "political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of the Government of Cuba"; and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), a subdivision of Cuba's Ministry of Interior and "a fundamental pillar of Cuba’s state oppressive security apparatus." It also designated Minera la Victoria SA, a Cuba gold-mining joint venture with an Australian company.
For decades, Cuba has been the world capital for radical left-wing terrorism. The regime in Havana has recruited, trained and backed violent Marxist and third-worldist movements across our hemisphere and beyond. Today, we are targeting the network that enables and funds Cuba's…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) June 4, 2026
My brain hurts from just typing all of that. I can imagine how the regime is feeling. All of these new sanctions essentially freeze or block any assets these people or entities hold in the United States or that are controlled by someone in the United States — including assets in which they own 50% or more — and they must be reported to OFAC. No one in the U.S. can provide or receive funds, goods, or services from those sanctioned. And foreign people, banks, and companies that deal with those who are sanctioned run the risk of being sanctioned themselves if they continue doing business with any of these entities.
The State Department says this is all "part of the Trump Administration’s comprehensive push to end the Cuban regime’s decades-long campaign of political, ideological, and institutional warfare against the United States and to hold accountable those who sustain its operations and profit from the Cuban people’s oppression." Here's more:
The Cuban regime continues to demonstrate that it prioritizes the exportation of radical left-wing violence through its malign influence networks and the enrichment of the regime over the well-being of the Cuban people. These sanctions are designed to hold international actors supporting the Cuban regime accountable. Foreign banks and companies providing services to those designated are at risk of sanctions and should freeze those activities. The Trump Administration will continue to target the Cuban regime’s subversive network, those who enable its subversive operations, and those who profit while the Cuban people suffer.
The world is officially on notice. And it's working. Even the New York Times admits it.
The Times reported on Thursday that several international companies are cutting ties with the communist nation. A lot of them are hotels, including Meliá Hotels International, Blue Diamond Resorts, and Iberostar.
And then there's this: "Cuba’s Central Bank announced Wednesday that a bank that processes Visa and Mastercard transactions had withdrawn to comply with a recent executive order from the White House that threatened sanctions against foreign companies doing business in Cuba."
The regime loves foreign currency and tourism dollars and has long prioritized tourism for hard currency inflows to offset shortages and sustain operations. That's a huge blow to its pockets.
The regime is also angry upon learning about this latest round of sanctions and came out swinging at the "Yankee government" on Thursday evening. At least, on social media... As I mentioned a few days ago, what they say publicly and what's going on privately are two different situations. Here's how Díaz-Canel responded.
The President of the United States makes new threatening statements against #Cuba; and the Treasury Department has added new names of Cuban leaders, organizations, and companies to an illegitimate sanctions list.
They are aimed at reinforcing the #blockade measures and the scenario of conflict between Cuba and the United States.
This political blindness is added to the coercive measures applied in recent weeks against our country, designed to harm the Cuban people.
The aggressiveness and perversity of the Yankee government will clash with our determination to confront the worst scenarios and resist the imperialist onslaught.
While Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez had this to say:
The vile inclusion of President [Díaz-Canel], members of his family, as well as institutions, civil society organizations, and Cuban companies on an illegitimate and unilateral list by the government of #USA represents the latest evidence of the U.S. interventionist plan to portray #Cuba as a threat to the national security of the United States.
Every U.S. action aimed at building a scenario of conflict between the two countries will be doomed to failure.
Every threat against the independence and sovereignty of Cuba will be met with an even greater unity and resolve from our people.
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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