Fresh US Sanctions Hit Cuba’s Fuel Sector and a Castro Grandson
(Bloomberg) — The US added a fuel wholesaler, a development bank and a mining-services company to its Cuba blacklist, along with one of former President Raúl Castro’s grandsons, as it ramps up pressure on the communist-run island.
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Washington has been piling on new sanctions nearly every week as it tries to dislodge the government in Havana, which has ruled the island for almost 70 years.
Among the entities named by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in updated guidance Thursday is Comercial Cupet SA, which sells fuel and lubricants; Banco Exterior de Cuba, which was founded in 1999; ABAPET, a machinery wholesaler; and CEXNI and NICAROTEC, which work in the mining industry.
Fidel Ernesto Castro Calis, 31, was also named. He’s the son of Alejando Castro Espín, a high-ranking official in Cuba’s interior ministry, who was sanctioned in June. Another one of Raúl Castro’s grandsons — Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, who gained prominence as a potential contact in stalled negotiations between Washington and Havana — remains untouched.
Since President Donald Trump’s administration expanded Cuba sanctions in May, at least 86 people and entities have been hit with the punitive measures.
The moves reflect 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,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
One sanctions expert flagged the designation of ABAPET as particularly significant, given that it’s involved in the procurement of supplies needed to maintain Cuba’s aging power-generation plants. The island needs roughly 100,000 barrels of oil per day to meet normal demand but produces just two-fifths of that domestically.
Since capturing Cuba’s principal ally in Venezuela at the start of January and cutting off its supply of oil from that country, Trump has imposed a de facto fuel blockade on the island that’s seen only one Russian tanker make a delivery. Havana blames the fuel dearth for triggering four national blackouts in the span of a month.