US sanctions Cuba’s state oil giant CUPET, squeezing the island’s energy lifeline
The Trump administration blacklisted Cuba’s state oil company CUPET on Thursday, accusing the communist regime of using energy as a weapon and vowing to undermine its ability to repress the people.
Sanctioning the state oil monopoly
On Thursday, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed Unión Cuba-Petróleo (CUPET) on its sanctions list, prohibiting American citizens and entities from conducting any financial or commercial transactions with the firm. The move also threatens secondary penalties for non‑US persons who do business with the company.
Rubio accuses regime of energy weaponization
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a long‑time critic of Havana, framed the action as a blow against a kleptocracy.
For decades, the regime has stolen and hoarded available fuel, using it for the Castro family’s private plane, the security forces used to repress the Cuban people, to keep empty tourist hotels lit, and to transport people on buses for simulated protests and political maneuvers. All while the Cuban people suffered blackouts and waited weeks to fill their car tanks.
He added that the communist government has long used energy as a weapon both for repression and to enrich itself.
Wider squeeze on Cuban energy
The sanctions are the latest ratcheting of a campaign that began earlier this year. Since December, Trump has maintained a full blockade on sanctioned oil tankers carrying Venezuelan crude, cutting off the island’s primary fuel source. That has forced Cuba, a nation of 10 million, into rolling blackouts and chronic shortages. The Treasury also denied media reports that it had granted a license to Florida‑based Vanguard Energy to export crude, reinforcing that the blockade on foreign oil remains intact.
- US imposes full blockade on Venezuelan oil tankers to Cuba
- US Treasury sanctions relatives of Raúl Castro, including his grandson
- US sanctions President Miguel Díaz‑Canel, his wife, and stepson
- US adds state oil company CUPET to OFAC sanctions list
Targeting the leadership
The CUPET action follows a recent flurry of sanctions directly aimed at Cuba’s top tier. Last Friday, the US Treasury blacklisted President Miguel Díaz‑Canel, his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza, and stepson Manuel Anido Cuesta. A previous round on May 4 had already sanctioned Raúl Castro’s grandson and other relatives. Trump himself has mused about a possible “takeover” of the economically battered island, calling Cuba a “failed nation” but adding that from Washington’s perspective it should become a “properly governed country”.
Havana’s defiant reply
President Díaz‑Canel, in power since 2018, dismissed the threats. In a speech the German magazine Spiegel noted, he said:
My dear imperialists: we have absolutely no fear of you.
The remark came as his government grapples with the worst economic crisis since the 1959 revolution.
