US imposes new sanctions on Cuban president and Castro family members

The United States has announced fresh economic sanctions on Cuba’s president and some of his immediate family, alongside members of the Castro family, in Washington’s latest ramping up of pressure on its communist-led neighbour.Among those targeted were the son and a grandson of former president Raúl Castro, who no longer holds an official position but remains a key figure on decisions about the future of the island.President Miguel Diaz-Canel, his wife and stepson were also hit by the latest Treasury Department sanctions issued on Thursday, as was the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and several other entities.The US has had an embargo on Cuba for decades, but US President Donald Trump has drastically ramped up pressure on the island in recent months and openly muses about taking it over.A de facto fuel blockade has deepened the island’s energy crisis and hit its already fragile economy.The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on X that the US was “targeting the network that enables and funds Cuba’s subversive and radical operations” because the US would “no longer tolerate radical Marxist regimes” exporting their “poisonous and evil ‘revolution’” to the US and elsewhere.Rubio said sanctions now applied to the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, Amistur Cuba, and the committees for the defense of the revolution.“Anyone providing services to these sanctioned actors is at risk of sanctions themselves. Foreign banks and other companies that provide services to these entities should freeze those activities,” Rubio said.The Treasury’s latest actions also follow a move in 2025 when Washington restricted visas for the Cuban president and other high-ranking government officials.Trump has repeatedly signalled that the Cuban government could be next after Venezuela to fall to US pressure.