Pressure on Cuba grows: Trump announces new sanctions against the Castro government

“The policies, practices and actions of the Government of Cuba (…) continue constituting an unusual and extraordinary threat which has its origin wholly or substantially outside the United States, for the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” Trump said in his latest executive order.

“Not only are they designed to harm the United States, but they are also repugnant to the moral and political values ​​of free and democratic societies“he added.

The new sanctions are directed at the pillars of the Cuban economy, with special impact on the sectors of energy, defense, mining and financial services.

According to the executive order, any person or company that operates in them or does business with the Cuban regime will suffer the total blockade of its assets in the United States.

Additionally, the White House warned that if a banco from another country facilitates a “significant transaction” for someone sanctioned in Cuba will face the closing your accounts on Wall Street oh well ban on operating in dollars.

This decision represents a step further in the system of sanctions against the island, which is not only limited to punishing members of the Cuban Government, but also executives, leaders, officials or individuals at any level.

The sanctions also suspend entry to the United States of anyone related to these criteria.

These sanctions take effect immediately “due to the ability to transfer funds or assets instantly”which according to the Trump Administration would allow them to be circumvented if there was prior notification.

“They are not going to intimidate us“said Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodrígez Parrilla spoke after the sanctions became known. “The Homeland, the Revolution and Socialism They defend themselves with ideas and with armas“he warned.

“The United States government is alarmed and responds with new illegal and abusive unilateral coercive measures against Cuba, to the parade of more than half a million Cubans in Havana for #May1, led by Army General Raul Castro and the President Miguel Diaz Caneland the Signature of 6 million Cuban men and women in defense of the militarily threatened Homeland, in denunciation of the intensified blockade and the energy siege,” he tweeted.

Thousands of people marched in Havana in front of the United States embassy to “defend the homeland” and denounce threats of military aggression, amid growing tension with Washington.

Since January, the United States Government has intensified pressure on Havana with an oil blockade, while Trump has suggested on several occasions the need for a regime change on the island.

In Florida, the executive order sparked the joy of several American congressmen of Cuban origin, including Republicans Carlos A. Giménez and María Elvira Salazar.

“I commend the Trump Administration for taking decisive measures and expand sanctions against this dictatorship. The era of appeasement politics is over; “We will not allow a regime aligned with our enemies to operate just 90 miles from our coasts,” Salazar said on social network X.

For his part, Giménez indicated that the Cuban regime “must understand that If you continue operating in bad faith, they will come much more severe consequences.”