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The Cuban activist Rosa María Payá expressed her gratitude this Thursday to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the new sanctions implemented against GAESA and the military leadership of the Cuban regime, describing the measures as an act of solidarity with the people of the Island.
Payá published her message on X (Twitter) in response to the announcement from the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, which informed about the sanctions from the Department of State under the title "U.S. sanctions target the Cuban military regime and its elites."
"The sanctions against the military leadership show solidarity with the Cuban people. For decades, GAESA and the generals in charge have lived in luxury at the expense of our nation's suffering, while ordinary Cubans endure hunger and blackouts. Holding them accountable is overdue. Thank you, @POTUS and @SecRubio," wrote the activist.
The sanctions announced this Thursday by Rubio are part of the Executive Order 14404 signed by Trump on May 1, which expanded the legal framework to sanction individuals and entities linked to repression in Cuba, including secondary measures against foreign banks.
Among the objectives of the new measures are GAESA as an institution, its executive president, Brigadier General Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, the mining company Moa Nickel S.A., 12 current and former officials of the regime, seven military and security entities, and three vessels.
Rubio described the military conglomerate as "the heart of Cuba's kleptocratic communist system", designed to generate income not for the Cuban people, but for the exclusive benefit of its corrupt elites.
The weight of GAESA in the Cuban economy is overwhelming: it controls between 40% and 70% of the formal economy of the Island, including tourism, ports, remittances, foreign trade, and mining, with estimated assets of over 18 billion dollars and calculations of up to 20 billion in illicit assets diverted to hidden accounts abroad.
It is not the first time that Payá has expressed her support for these measures. On May 2, the activist had already publicly thanked Trump and Rubio for the signing of Executive Order 14404, demonstrating a consistent stance in support of Washington's maximum pressure policy.
Since January 2026, the Trump administration has imposed more than 240 sanctions against the Cuban regime as part of that strategy, which also resulted in the release of over 2,000 political prisoners on April 3 under pressure from Washington, although Rubio ruled out any relief without a structural political change on the Island.
Payá, founder of the Cuba Decide platform and daughter of dissident Oswaldo Payá, has been one of the most vocal supporters of sanctions against GAESA, which she considers not only an economic mechanism but also an instrument of repression against the Cuban people.
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