Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel hit back on August 20 after the US government announced a fresh round of sanctions, vowing that Cuba would resist and ultimately prevail — and that America would one day land on the list of genocidal nations.
In a social media post that day, Díaz-Canel slammed Washington’s “executioners” for dropping another “blacklist” on Thursdays to punish Cuban individuals and institutions. Their only “crime,” he said, is serving Cuba and opposing the “genocidal blockade” imposed on the island nation.
According to public records from the US Treasury and State Department, the latest round targets three top leaders of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), plus ten state-owned entities spanning construction, mining, trade, and labor sectors — the backbone of Cuba’s state-run economy.
Earlier this month, Washington had already slapped sanctions on eight senior Cuban military officials and five affiliated entities, going after their weapons procurement network and cutting off related state revenue. Sources say the US has been quietly ramping up intelligence operations in Cuba lately, which hints at either military planning or efforts to flip Cuban officials and citizens.
Given the uncertainty around any military action against Iran, the White House strategy is tilting heavily toward sanctions and economic pressure — the goal is to choke off every revenue stream the Cuban government has, rather than launch a military or special-forces operation like the January raid targeting Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. It’s a playbook that mirrors Washington’s latest isolation tactics against Tehran.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly stressed that the US prefers a diplomatic path to push Cuba toward “a transition to a new government led by technocrats willing to embrace economic reforms.”
Rubio’s parents are Cuban expats who left before the revolution, and he grew up hearing plenty of grievances about the Castro regime at the dinner table. In politics, he’s long worn the anti-Cuba mantle — issuing public threats, pressuring other nations at the UN to vote against Cuba, and pushing for ever-tougher US sanctions.
On July 31, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated at a regular press briefing that China has made its position clear multiple times: the US should immediately stop threatening Cuba with force and end its unilateral blockade and sanctions in any form. China will continue to firmly support Cuba in defending national sovereignty and opposing foreign interference, working with all parties to uphold international fairness and justice.
Multiple UN human rights experts have publicly criticized Washington’s unilateral expansion of sanctions against Cuba, pointing out that such measures essentially try to meddle with Cuba’s constitutional order and don’t align with international human rights standards.
Cuba was the first country in the Western Hemisphere to fully break free from US political and economic control. The two nations have been at odds for over a century, with the root causes being ideological clashes and geopolitical rivalries. In 1901, the US used the Platt Amendment to turn Cuba into a protectorate. After the 1959 revolution, Cuba embraced socialism and nationalized American assets. Diplomatic ties were cut in 1961, and the US went on to orchestrate the Bay of Pigs invasion and multiple other attempts to topple the regime.
The US economic and financial embargo on Cuba has dragged on for more than six decades, racking up an estimated $178.7 billion in damages. Sanctions restrict Cuba’s access to the US dollar and the international banking system, directly fueling a humanitarian crisis on the island.
Last December, the White House posted its National Security Strategy online, with a theme centered on “Western Hemisphere first.”
Some media outlets have dubbed it a revival of the Monroe Doctrine — the 1823 policy articulated by President James Monroe that opposed European colonization in the Americas and staked out the region as America’s backyard. By the 20th century, though, it morphed into a tool for US domination in Latin America, including the invasion of Panama and sanctions on Cuba.
Since this year, the Trump administration has signed executive orders declaring a national emergency and threatening tariffs on any country that supplies oil to Cuba — a full-on energy blockade.
A federal grand jury in Florida’s Southern District agreed on May 20 to let US prosecutors charge Cuban revolutionary leader Raúl Castro, linking him to the 1996 shootdown of planes flown by Cuban exiles — at the time, Castro was head of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces.
That lawsuit is widely seen as another lever in Washington’s pressure campaign. Díaz-Canel said the same day that the so-called “charges” are purely politically driven with zero legal basis, serving only to pad the US’s fabricated case file and provide cover for its absurd push toward military aggression against Cuba.
Years of sanctions, compounded by Trump-era threats to tariff any nation selling oil to Cuba, have hammered Cuba’s fuel import channels. The country can’t even bring in power plant parts or essential grid maintenance gear, leaving its already-aging energy infrastructure to crumble — blackouts are now a grim routine.
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez condemned the US government’s policy of maximum pressure and economic strangulation on August 14, saying Washington’s moves are meant to weaken Cuba’s ability to deliver basic goods and services, stir up social unrest, and upend the country’s constitutional order.