The Communist Cuban regime continues to pose a serious threat to U.S. national security and the Western Hemisphere’s stability. While the Cuban people suffer, the Castro family and their cronies in Cuba’s repressive Ministry of the Interior continue to perpetuate their total control of the island’s economy, hoarding resources for the benefit of a small group of regime elites.
In response, Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated five entities and one individual whose activities prop up the Cuban regime’s financial services, metals and mining, and energy sectors, and are part of networks that advance the regime’s threats to U.S. national security.
Among those designated are a grandson of Raúl Castro, Fidel Ernesto Castro Calis, Banco Exterior de Cuba, and four entities exploiting Cuba’s natural resources or energy reserves for the benefit of the regime.
“Cuba is a failed state right now,” due to its own corrupt policies, declared Secretary Rubio in a recent press interview. “Cuba was getting free oil from [Nicolas] Maduro. Maduro was literally stealing the oil of the people of Venezuela and giving it for free to Cuba.” But instead of supplying the Cuban people with fuel, the regime took that oil and sold the majority of it for cash, which went to fill their personal coffers.
“That’s no longer happening,” declared Secretary Rubio. “They’re no longer stealing the oil of Venezuela and getting it for free.”
In the meantime, significant blackouts, continue in Cuba, due to antiquated equipment that dates back to the 1940s and ‘50s, explained Secretary Rubio. The regime has consistently failed to invest in the nation’s infrastructure. “The only solution and answer to Cuba – and we’re prepared to play a productive role in this – is to place itself on an irreversible path towards becoming a normal functioning state” that is also democratic, said Secretary Rubio.
U.S. policy towards Cuba, unlike U.S. policy towards Venezuela or other countries, noted Secretary Rubio, is a matter of law. “And that law regulates what we can and cannot do with Cuba, and it makes very clear that ultimately, normalization between our countries cannot fully happen unless there’s a functioning democracy, or at least steps towards a functioning democracy.”
The newest designations regarding Cuban elites and their levers of power reflect President Donald Trump’s unwavering vision for a free Cuba — one where the regime’s illicit financial networks, repressive apparatuses, and entrenched Castro-era power structures are dismantled, and where the Cuban people, not their oppressors, inherit the nation’s future.