The Trump administration is expanding sanctions on Cuba, targeting state-owned industries and leaders of a Cuban organization Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused of helping build a hostile influence network inside the United States.
According to Antiwar.com’s Ioannis Vlahos, the Treasury and State Departments announced the new penalties Thursday. The measures apply to 10 state-owned mining, metal and construction companies, as well as the leadership of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, known as ICAP.
Rubio Accuses ICAP of Targeting Americans
Rubio said ICAP is responsible for sponsoring “a vast subversive network in the United States aimed at identifying, cultivating, and radicalizing” Americans.
In a statement, Rubio linked the allegation to events surrounding Fidel Castro’s 100th birthday, saying the Cuban government had tried “to reinvigorate this subversive network” by bringing “a new brigade of international sympathizers to Havana to network with regime officials.”
“The Trump Administration will not stand by while a hostile foreign power seeks to exploit our freedoms — none of which are afforded to its people — by misleading and corrupting American citizens with lies, spy tradecraft, and other malfeasance,” Rubio said, according to the source article.
Broader Pressure Campaign Against Havana
The new sanctions are part of what Vlahos described as a rapid escalation of pressure on Cuba since the start of the year, including increased economic penalties intended to cut off funding to the Cuban government.
The source article also states that the administration has threatened military action and imposed an oil blockade after a January raid in which, according to Antiwar.com, the United States kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. That claim is attributed to the source and should be independently verified before publication.
Humanitarian Warnings and Cuba’s Response
Experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council warned that Cuba risks becoming a “silent Gaza,” according to the article. They said the humanitarian consequences were developing into “a full-blown crisis” that threatens rights to health, life, food and development.
Cuba has long denounced U.S. sanctions and the Cold War-era embargo, arguing that Washington is targeting a poor country over ideological differences and its proximity to the American mainland.
The sanctions announcement underscores a familiar divide: the Trump administration frames its Cuba policy as a defense against communist influence and foreign manipulation, while critics argue the pressure campaign is worsening conditions for ordinary Cubans.
