| |
US Ramps Up Cuba Sanctions 08/21 06:21
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's administration is increasing
pressure on Cuba by imposing more economic penalties on industries in the
heavily sanctioned socialist country and broadening enforcement of laws that
bar Americans who visit the island from dealings with government-owned or
-affiliated businesses.
The Treasury and State departments announced Thursday that they are leveling
new penalties against nine state-owned mining, metal and construction companies
along with the leadership of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the
Peoples, or ICAP.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the institute is responsible for
sponsoring "a vast subversive network in the United States aimed at
identifying, cultivating, and radicalizing" Americans.
"Just days ago, the regime attempted to use Communist kingpin and despot
Fidel Castro's 100th birthday to reinvigorate this subversive network, ferrying
a new brigade of international sympathizers to Havana to network with regime
officials," Rubio said in a statement.
"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 as part of the regime's raison d'tre of exporting Marxism,
racial resentment, and Communist violence across the world," Rubio said.
Trump's Republican administration has steadily ratcheted up pressure on
Havana, threatening it with potential military intervention even when mired in
a conflict against Iran, while also boosting economic sanctions designed to cut
off funding for the Cuban government. An oil blockade that the U.S. imposed on
Cuba after the American military raid that ousted Venezuelan leader Nicols
Maduro, whose country provided Cuba with subsidized oil, has plunged the
already economically crippled island into full-blown crisis.
Cuba accuses the US of trying to hurt the country's economy
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodrguez rejected the sanctions in a post on
his official X account, asserting that the United States and Rubio are pursuing
the "deliberate aim of harming" the economy "to prevent the provision of basic
services to the population."
"In his failed obsession with Cuba, he is now targeting executives and
officials from ICAP -- an institution that, for over six decades, has promoted
friendship, international solidarity, justice, and peace -- the exact opposite
of what the Secretary of State has always championed in his corrupt policy,"
Rodrguez wrote.
The latest sanctions follow an operation at the Miami airport last weekend
in which several American citizens returning from Cuba after participating in
events marking Castro's birthday were briefly detained, according to U.S.
officials. Some of them had their cellphones and other personal electronic
devices seized for inspection, the officials said.
U.S. authorities had been prepared to detain dozens of returning activists
for secondary screening, but far fewer were found to meet the criteria for the
enhanced questioning by Customs and Border Protection agents, the officials
said.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because details of
the operation have not been made public, said those detained were eventually
released and allowed to enter the U.S.
The officials said anyone detained and released could still face prosecution
if it is found they violated U.S. sanctions, which prohibit all transactions
with Cuban government-owned entities, including restaurants, hotels and shops.
The status of seized cellphones, laptops and tablets, however, was unclear.
New sanctions are the latest pressure tactic as Cuba's economy falls into
crisis
The new sanctions on the leadership of ICAP target the group's president,
Fernando Gonzlez Llort, who had been among five Cuban intelligence officers
arrested in the U.S. in 1998 but later released in 2014. They also target its
first vice president, Noem Ramona Rabaza Fernndez, and its North America
director, Leima Martnez Freire.
The metals, mining and construction sector sanctions target a nickel
production company, two firms that specialize in the import of heavy industrial
products, a mineral resources company, the Cuban Ministry of Construction, a
company that provides Cuban workers to foreign entities on the island and two
enterprises that import vehicles, automotive parts and construction materials.
The Trump administration also has stepped up a campaign that portrays Cuba
as a grave national security threat to the U.S. In a report released last
month, the State Department accused the Cuban government of sponsoring or
otherwise supporting left-wing and anti-American activism in the United States
for the past six decades.
While Cuba has been falling deeper into crisis for around five years, the
oil blockade by the Trump administration has thrown the nation into freefall.
The lack of fuel to provide Cubans with electricity has plunged the island
into all-out blackouts. Access to public transport has effectively disappeared,
shortages of things like medicine have worsened, work hours have been slashed
to adapt to the outages, and tourism, the island's economic lifeline, has
evaporated.
|
|
