President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on foreign individuals connected to repression in Cuba and threats to national security and foreign policy of the United States.
The document, published from the White House, expands the legal framework established by the Executive Order 14380 of January 29, 2026, which declared a national emergency regarding Cuba and characterized the regime's policies as an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. interests.
In the text of the new order, Trump states that the policies of the Cuban government "are not only designed to harm the United States, but are also repugnant to the moral and political values of free and democratic societies."
The order blocks all assets and interests in properties in the United States of foreign individuals that the Secretary of State or the Secretary of the Treasury determine operate in key sectors of the Cuban economy: energy, defense, metals and mining, financial services, and security.
Also subject to sanctions are those who are leaders, officials, or executives of the Cuban government; those who have provided material support to the regime; those responsible for serious human rights abuses in Cuba; and those involved in corruption related to the government of Havana.
One of the broadest provisions extends sanctions to adult family members of individuals already designated under the same order, significantly expanding the scope of the measures.
The travel section suspends entry to the United States —whether as immigrants or non-immigrants— for all individuals who meet the sanction criteria, unless the Secretary of State determines that their admission is in the national interest.
The order also authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to sanction foreign financial institutions that facilitate significant transactions with blocked individuals, including the prohibition of correspondent accounts in U.S. territory.
The document also states that the designations will not require prior notification to those affected, as "the ability to transfer funds instantaneously would render the measures ineffective" if they were informed in advance.
This new order is part of the maximum pressure strategy that the Trump administration has intensified since January 2026, which included the interception of at least seven tankers heading to Cuba and the prohibition of the island receiving Russian oil, measures that have worsened an energy crisis with blackouts lasting up to 25 hours a day.
The Cuban regime has responded with accusations of "collective punishment" and has denounced Washington's pressures to international bodies, while the island's economy faces a projected GDP decline of 7.2% in 2026.
The new order resumes and expands the approach of personal sanctions that Trump applied during his first administration when the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, then president of the military conglomerate GAESA—who passed away in 2022—on September 30, 2020.
The Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury are authorized and directed to implement the order by temporarily suspending regulations, publishing rules in the Federal Register, and exercising all powers granted to the president by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
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