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The president Donald Trump signed a new executive order this Friday that significantly expands the sanctions regime against Cuba, establishing the freezing of assets of officials, businesspeople, and relatives connected to the Cuban regime who have property in U.S. territory or under the control of individuals from that country.
The measure, titled “Imposing Sanctions on Those Responsible for Repression in Cuba and for Threats to United States National Security and Foreign Policy”, is based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Furthermore, it extends the national emergency declared in the Executive Order 14380 of January 29, 2026, which already classified the Government of Cuba as an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security.
The order establishes that "all assets and interests in properties located in the United States, that subsequently enter the United States, or that are or will be under the possession or control of U.S. persons" of the designated are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, or traded in any manner.
Who is subject to the freeze?
The list of sanctionable behaviors is extensive. Those exposed to asset blocking include those operating in the energy, defense, related materials, metals and mining, financial services, or security sectors of the Cuban economy.
It also includes those owned by, controlled by, or acting on behalf of the Government of Cuba, as well as those who have provided financial, material, or technological support to the regime or to already designated individuals.
Leaders, officials, senior executives, or board members of the Cuban government or of blocked entities, along with the political subdivisions, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Cuban state, are also among the targets.
The order also applies to those responsible for serious human rights abuses in Cuba or acts of corruption, including the misappropriation of public assets, the expropriation of private property for personal or political gain, and bribery.
One of the most striking aspects is the extension of the sanctions to "any adult family member of a person designated under this order", which broadens the scope beyond direct officials.
Without prior notice and with entry prohibited
The order explicitly states that no prior notification to the affected parties will be required before their designation. The text justifies this measure by stating that "the ability to transfer funds or assets instantaneously would render the measures ineffective if there were prior notice."
In addition to the freezing of assets, the order prohibits any transactions by U.S. persons with those designated, including donations, and suspends entry into the United States—whether as immigrants or non-immigrants—for those who meet the sanction criteria.
The implementation is in the hands of the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, and vice versa.
A legally stronger escalation
This new order marks a shift from the mechanism used in January, when Trump eliminated the secondary oil tariffs following a court ruling that declared them illegal under the same IEEPA.
The freezing of assets is the most traditional and legally established use of that law, which makes this tool more difficult to contest.
The main institutional targets would be GAESA —the business conglomerate of the Armed Forces that controls approximately 70% of the formal Cuban economy— along with MINFAR and MININT, which had already appeared in previous lists from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
In July 2025, the U.S. had already sanctioned the ministers of the FAR and the MININT for their role in the repression of 11J.
The measure also responds to the demands of Cuban-American congress members such as Carlos Giménez, María Elvira Salazar, and Mario Díaz-Balart, who in February 2026 explicitly called for the freezing of regime assets abroad, within the framework of a sustained maximum pressure from the White House, which has already imposed more than 240 new sanctions against the regime since January 2026.
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