The U.S. sanctioned five Cuban state entities Tuesday, targeting the military-controlled conglomerate that controls nearly 40 percent of the island’s economy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the announcement, calling Cuba’s communist regime “corrupt, brutal and anti-American.”
Three of the five entities are tied to Grupo de Administracion Empresarial S.A., better known as GAESA, the business empire operated by Cuba’s armed forces. As of early 2024, GAESA held around $14.5 billion in liquid reserves.
“The situation in Cuba is devolving as the island’s corrupt, brutal and anti-American Communist regime continues to focus on its own total control over the freedom, opportunity and basic well-being of the Cuban people,” Rubio wrote on X.
Rubio, whose parents fled Cuba, said regime elites have used GAESA to “steal the island’s few resources, diverting them for repression, anti-American subversion and spying instead of schools, power plants, and basic necessities for the Cuban people.”
The three GAESA companies hit are Almacenes Universales S.A., the government’s main logistics and warehousing operation that runs Cuba’s import-export system; Rafin S.A., which analysts describe as the conglomerate’s financial arm; and Banco Financiero Internacional S.A., a commercial bank central to foreign investment on the island.
Two additional entities were also named: Geominera S.A., a state mining company, and Empresa Siderurgica Jose Marti, Cuba’s largest raw steel producer. A sixth target, Annalie Lilliam Rueda Cardero, is the daughter-in-law of former President Raul Castro.
Businesses that work with any of the designated entities now risk being cut off from the U.S. financial system.
Michael Bustamante, who chairs Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, said the designations are a direct shot at foreign investment. “By designating specific entities, they’re making it clear to foreign investors: ‘If your business in Cuba touches any of these folks, you risk being banned,'” Bustamante said. “For most of these companies, it’s a bridge too far.”
Max Meizlish, a former Treasury sanctions enforcement officer, zeroed in on the bank. He called Banco Financiero Internacional “a key nexus” for GAESA funds and said the action was “significant.”
Cuba’s foreign affairs minister, Bruno Rodriguez, pushed back, calling Rubio “dishonest and mendacious” and claiming the island has “proven stronger, more capable, and more effective than he anticipated.”
Cuba last week rolled out economic reforms allowing its private sector to import goods without going through the state. Analysts say that change isn’t operational yet, and these new sanctions could further disrupt the flow of goods on the island.
