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The Department of State formally accused the Canadian mining company Sherritt International this Thursday of "exploiting Cuba's natural resources to benefit the regime at the expense of the Cuban people," in a statement accompanying new sanctions against entities of the Cuban regime.
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions against three targets: Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), its CEO Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, and Moa Nickel S.A. (MNSA), the joint venture that Sherritt has operated in Cuba since 1994.
The statement also notes that Sherritt "benefits from assets that were originally expropriated by the Cuban regime from American citizens and corporations," referring to the mining facilities in Moa, Holguín.
Sherritt's response was immediate: that very Thursday, the company suspended its direct participation in all its joint ventures in Cuba and began the repatriation of its expatriate employees.
Three board members —president Brian Imrie, Richard Moat, and Brett Richards— have resigned effective immediately.
The determining factor was the introduction of secondary sanctions against foreign financial institutions that do business with blocked Cuban entities, a mechanism included in the executive order signed by Trump on May 1, which directly threatened Sherritt's access to the international banking system.
Two days earlier, on May 5th, the mining company had already issued a corporate alert warning about the implications of the executive order, stating that it was consulting with advisors to assess the next steps to take.
The departure of Sherritt deprives the regime of its largest foreign mining partner and between 10% and 15% of its independent electricity generation capacity, through Energas S.A., which operates 506 MW of installed power.
Rubio described GAESA as "the heart of the kleptocratic communist system of Cuba," controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
The military conglomerate dominates between 40% and 70% of the Cuban formal economy, controls 95% of currency transactions, and has estimated assets of more than 18 billion dollars, with revenues exceeding 3.2 times the Cuban State Budget.
The labor model of joint ventures was also subject to criticism: Sherritt paid the Cuban government in foreign currency, while Cuban workers received minimum wages in pesos equivalent to just a few dollars a month, without independent unions.
Sherritt's nickel production in Cuba had fallen from 34,876 tons in 2021 to 25,240 tons in 2025, affected by the energy crisis, shortages of supplies, and Hurricane Melissa.
In January 2026, the company had already temporarily suspended operations at Moa Nickel due to a lack of fuel, anticipating the deterioration that ultimately led to its permanent exit.
Since January 2026, the Trump administration has imposed more than 240 sanctions against the regime, intercepted at least seven tankers, and reduced the island's energy imports by between 80% and 90%, causing power outages of up to 25 hours a day in more than 55% of Cuban territory.
Rubio warned that "additional appointments can be expected in the coming days and weeks."
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