The Donald Trump administration launched all-out sanctions against senior figures in the Cuban regime.
On the 18th (local time), the U.S. State Department said in a statement, "As part of the Trump administration's comprehensive pressure campaign against Cuba, we are sanctioning 11 individuals tied to the regime and three entities to respond to the significant national security threats posed by the Cuban communist regime."
Those sanctioned include National Assembly of People's Power Speaker Juan Esteban Lazo Hernández, Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy, Communications Minister Mayra Arevich Marín, and former Vice President Roberto Tomás Morales Ojeda, among Cuba's highest-ranking officials. The core power institutions Directorate of Intelligence (DI), the Ministry of the Interior, and the National Revolutionary Police (PDR) were also added to the sanctions list.
The State Department criticized the Cuban regime for prioritizing communist ideology and the private interests of the elite for about 60 years and allowing Cuban territory to be used for foreign intelligence activities and terrorist operations. It added, "The United States will continue to take steps to counter the Cuban regime, its backers, and overseas partners."
Earlier the same day, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also said in a statement that it designated the Cuban Directorate of Intelligence (DI) and nine Cuban individuals, including the Ministers of Communications, Energy, and the Ministry of Justice, for additional sanctions. As a result, the asset of the Cuban intelligence agency and senior officials on the list in the United States were frozen, and transaction with the United States and U.S. corporations was restricted.
As Cuba maintained a hard-line stance despite U.S. pressure, the Trump administration is further ratcheting up sanctions. Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, Cuba's ambassador to the United Nations, dismissed the U.S. demand for President Miguel Díaz-Canel to step down, saying, "We cannot put regime change or the removal of the president on the negotiating table."
There is also speculation that the United States is considering a military response in this context. An anonymous U.S. government official told Politico, "The president and his aides are increasingly frustrated that the regime has not agreed to meaningful reforms despite pressure tactics such as cutting off fuel supplies to Cuba," adding, "Military options are being discussed far more seriously than before."