Rubio announces sanctions on Cuba’s military-controlled firm GAESA

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday sanctioned additional entities associated with Cuba’s military-controlled holding company the Grupo de Administracion Empresarial S.A (GAESA).

In a post on US social media company X, Rubio said the situation in Cuba is deteriorating due to the island’s “corrupt” regime, which he said prioritizes its “own total control” over the wellbeing of the Cuban people.

“The Cuban military-controlled conglomerate GAESA has persistently served as the main vector for regime elites to steal the island’s few resources, diverting them for repression, anti-American subversion and spying instead of schools, power plants, and basic necessities for the Cuban people,” Rubio said.

“Today, I designated additional GAESA network entities associated with moving both its money and its physical assets, as well as entities responsible for exploiting Cuba’s mineral and metal reserves for ill-gotten profit,” he added.

Rubio said that anyone “providing services to these sanctioned actors is at risk of being sanctioned themselves,” urging foreign banks and companies provide services to these entities to “freeze those activities immediately.”