US sanctions grandson of Raúl Castro and five state enterprises across Cuban energy and banking

Sanctions targeting the Castro family and state entities

The US Department of the Treasury announced financial sanctions on Thursday, 3 September 2026, targeting Fidel Ernesto Castro Calis and five Cuban state-run entities. The 31-year-old grandson of former Cuban president Raúl Castro was designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control under Executive Order 14404 as an adult relative of Brigadier General Alejandro Castro Espín, an influential intelligence figure in the Cuban government. The designation freezes any assets held by the targets under US jurisdiction and prohibits American citizens and institutions from engaging in financial or commercial transactions with them. According to US officials, the new sanctions are designed to restrict the Cuban government from funding and equipping its state security apparatus while isolating key administrative figures.

The designated entities exploit the natural resources or energy reserves of Cuba for the benefit of the regime.

Pressure on banking, energy, and mining operations

The sanctions package targets central pillars of the Cuban state economy across the banking, mining, and hydrocarbon sectors. Among the designated institutions is the Havana-based Banco Exterior de Cuba, which oversees corporate banking, international transactions, and foreign trade financing. The Treasury Department also penalized two key subsidiaries of the state oil company Unión Cuba Petróleo: Comercial Cupet S.A., which manages foreign joint venture negotiations, and the Empresa Importadora de Abastecimiento para el Petróleo, known as Abapet. Abapet is responsible for procuring specialized tools, machinery, and replacement parts required to maintain Cuba's electrical power grid and oil facilities. Furthermore, the measures penalize Nicarotec and Cexni, two state companies responsible for technical services, logistical management, and the processing of raw materials for nickel and cobalt extraction.

The United States is really trying to tighten the screws as much as possible.

Escalating power grid crisis and trade restrictions

The restrictions target equipment suppliers at a time when Cuba faces widespread infrastructural distress, with daily blackouts frequently exceeding 24 hours due to an obsolete power grid and depleted fuel reserves. The measures build upon an oil embargo initiated in late January 2026, when Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on any foreign nation that sells or delivers crude oil to the island. Negotiations between Washington and Havana that took place earlier in 2026 have stalled completely, with US officials demanding broad political and economic overhauls. During the final week of August 2026, Trump signed a presidential memorandum extending the general US trade embargo on Cuba for an additional year, keeping it in force until September 2027.

Legal indictments and long-term economic impact

The latest financial actions follow earlier legal and administrative steps taken by Washington against the Cuban leadership. In May 2026, the US Department of Justice indicted 95-year-old Raúl Castro alongside military officers Lorenzo Alberto Pérez-Pérez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raúl Simanca Cárdenas, and Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez. The indictment charges them with conspiracy to kill US citizens, destruction of aircraft, and murder in connection with the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes operated by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue, which killed three US citizens and one US resident. In June 2026, the Treasury Department sanctioned Alejandro Castro Espín and another son, Raúl Alejandro Castro Calis. Brett Erickson, chief executive of Obsidian Risk Advisors, noted that while Cuban authorities will attempt to obtain maintenance components through secondary channels, the resulting higher costs will accelerate domestic inflation and further strain the economy.