The American government increased its pressure on Cuba on Thursday June 4 by placing several Cuban personalities under economic sanctions, including President Miguel Díaz-Canel and members of the Castro family. He was already the subject of sanctions since July 2025 by American diplomacy, which accuses him of acts of repression against demonstrators in 2021.
The son and one of the grandsons of Raúl Castro, who no longer has an official function but remains, at 95, at the heart of decisions concerning the future of the communist island, are also on the blacklist of the American Department of Finance. Only son of the former leader, Alejandro Castro Espin was a key player in the secret negotiations between Cuba and the United States which led in 2015 to the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The wife of the Cuban president, Lis Cuesta, and her son are also sanctioned, alongside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
These sanctions “aim to strengthen the blockade measures and the climate of conflict between Cuba and the United States,” the Cuban head of state denounced on X. “The aggressiveness and perversity of the Yankee government will clash with our decision to face the worst scenarios and resist the imperial attack,” added Miguel Díaz-Canel, while the American president repeated Thursday that he soon wanted to “take care” of the communist island. The Treasury Department had already recently sanctioned ministers, several generals and the Cuban intelligence services.
When Washington imposes sanctions on people, any assets they may have in the United States are frozen. American companies and citizens are prohibited from trading with them, at the risk of being hit by sanctions in turn.
Another grandson of Raúl Castro, Raúl Castrormo Rodriguez Castro, who according to American media plays a role in the difficult talks underway for several months between the two countries, is however not one of the personalities subject to restrictive measures.
“Tourist complexes”
“The entities and individuals designated today direct or finance the regime and its efforts to mobilize its radical revolutionary movements in the United States,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, of Cuban origin and fierce opponent of the government in Havana, in a statement.
Marco Rubio said he was continuing “the dismantling of the military cartel which has monopolized all economic power in Cuba for the benefit of a small circle of regime elites”, in reference to the business conglomerate linked to the Cuban army, sanctioned in early May by Washington. This “Business Administration Group”, known under the name GAE.SA or Gaesa, has been weakened in recent weeks by the successive withdrawal of several foreign partners from the island of 9.6 million inhabitants.
Fearing American sanctions, several international hotel groups have withdrawn from the management of nearly a hundred tourist establishments on the island, most of them associated with Gaesa. And payments by Visa and Mastercard had to be suspended. Relations between the United States and Cuba, under embargo since 1962, have become considerably strained since the start of the year.
Washington imposes a de facto oil blockade on the island, has issued waves of sanctions against companies and leaders Raúl Castro in a case dating back to 1996. Donald Trump believes that the island, located 150 kilometers from the coast of Florida, represents “an extraordinary threat” to the national security of the United States. The American president has repeatedly threatened to “take control”.
Asked Thursday in the Oval Office at the White House to find out if these sanctions were aimed at pushing the collapse of the Cuban economy, Donald Trump said he wanted “simply for it to be a well-managed country, which can feed its people”. “The country is hungry (…) it has no money, it has nothing. He has a beautiful piece of land. We could have superb tourist complexes there,” continued the American president. “And we’ll take care of it as soon as we’re done.” I like to do one thing at a time and we will take care of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he added.
