US sanctions Cuba's president and Castro family, Trump hints at 'taking over' the island

The United States has sharply escalated its economic war on Cuba, imposing sanctions on President Miguel Díaz-Canel, his family, and several members of the Castro clan. The measures, announced by the Treasury Department on Thursday, freeze any US assets and prohibit American citizens and companies from doing business with the designated individuals and entities.

The sanctions list

Beyond Díaz-Canel, the sanctions target his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza, his stepson Manuel Anido Cuesta, and Alejandro Castro Espín, the only son of former President Raúl Castro. Raúl Castro's grandson, Raúl Alejandro Castro Calis, was also designated. Five entities were sanctioned, including the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), a neighbourhood-level network critics call a surveillance apparatus. The travel agency Amistur Cuba S.A., the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, and the mining company La Victoria round out the list.

For decades, Cuba has been the world capital of radical left-wing terrorism.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American and fierce opponent of the Havana government, said the administration was targeting a network that enables and finances Cuba's subversive activities abroad. The State Department had already sanctioned Díaz-Canel in July 2025 over the repression of 2021 protesters.

Havana's response

President Díaz-Canel condemned the measures on social media, denouncing the "aggressiveness and perversity of the Yankee government" and vowing to resist the "imperialist attack." Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said the "abominable" sanctions would produce "greater unity and determination of our people."

The aggression and perversity of the Yankee government will collide with our determination to face the worst scenarios and resist the imperial attack.

Trump's rhetoric

Speaking to reporters at the White House, President Donald Trump said he wanted Cuba "to be a nicely run country" that can feed its people, but added that the island "is starving, and it has no energy, it has no oil, it has no money, it has nothing." He also made a remark about "taking care of" Iran and then making "a short stopover on the way back" in reference to Cuba. The US president has repeatedly threatened to "take control" of the communist-run island, which sits just 150 kilometres from Florida.

Economic squeeze and corporate exodus

The sanctions are layered on top of a de facto fuel blockade and secondary sanctions targeting foreign companies that work with Gaesa, the military-run conglomerate that controls large swaths of Cuba's economy. The pressure is driving an exodus of international business. Spanish hotel group Meliá is ending operations in 15 of its 34 Cuban hotels; competitor Iberostar is pulling out of 12 of 18 properties. Canadian firm Royalton Hotels & Resorts has ceased all activity on the island. In the transport sector, German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd and France's CMA CGM announced in mid-May they would stop delivering cargo to Cuba, citing the tightened US sanctions. Cuba's UN representative has warned of a "humanitarian emergency" due to the ongoing oil blockade.

Broader context

The sanctions follow last month's indictment of Raúl Castro on murder charges for his alleged role in the 1996 shootdown of two planes operated by a Cuban exile group, which killed four people. Washington and Havana have been engaged in difficult negotiations for several months, according to American press reports, though Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, another grandson of Raúl Castro reportedly involved in those talks, was not included in the latest sanctions list.