Trump Expands Economic Sanctions on Cuban Government
Donald Trump expanded economic sanctions on the Cuban government on Friday, issuing an executive order that targets people and groups tied to Cuba’s security forces, corruption, serious human rights abuses, and officials or supporters of the government.
Cuba rejected the move at once. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the measures were meant to impose collective punishment on the Cuban people and said the United States has no right whatsoever to impose measures against Cuba or against third countries or entities.
Bruno Rodriguez Rejects U.S. Move
Rodriguez said on social media that “these measures are extraterritorial in nature and violate the United Nations Charter.” He also said that “While the US government represses its own people in the streets, it seeks to punish ours, who are heroically resisting the US imperialism’s attacks.”
The new U.S. action extends pressure beyond names on a sanctions list. Trump’s order also established a framework to impose additional tariffs on any country that provides oil to Cuba, directly or indirectly, tightening the economic squeeze around a country already facing a severe fuel shortage and frequent power blackouts.
White House and Senate Pressure
A White House statement said Cuba serves as a safe haven for transnational terrorist groups such as Hezbollah. Earlier this year, Trump issued an executive order declaring a national emergency over what the White House described as an unusual and extraordinary threat posed by the Cuban government.
That broader hardening of U.S. policy has now run alongside congressional resistance. Earlier this week, the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate voted 51 to 47 against a resolution designed to stop Trump from initiating military action against Cuba without first receiving approval from Congress.
Venezuela Link Shapes Response
The sanctions also sit inside a wider pressure campaign that the article links to Venezuela. In January, Trump’s administration and U.S. forces abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, according to the article, and the Cuban government says Washington is now extending that confrontation to Havana through economic pressure and the threat of wider restrictions.
For Cubans already dealing with fuel shortages and power cuts, the practical effect is deeper isolation in trade and energy flows. The next political test comes from the continued clash between Washington’s sanctions drive and Cuba’s public rejection, with Rodriguez already framing the measures as an attack that reaches beyond Cuba’s borders.
