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The Cuban-American Republican congressman Mario Díaz-Balart published a message on X this Thursday to thank President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the newly announced sanctions against the Cuban regime, describing them as "another important step" in holding the dictatorship accountable for its decades of repression.
"The new sanctions announced against the brutal Cuban regime are another important step in holding the dictatorship accountable for decades of repression, corruption, and threats to the national security of the United States and stability in our hemisphere," wrote the legislator for Florida's 26th district.
Díaz-Balart also explicitly thanked both officials: "Thank you to @POTUS and @SecRubio for continuing to strongly support the Cuban people and for opposing the support of the murderous regime for malign actors, transnational repression, intelligence operations against the United States, and its dangerous alliances with U.S. adversaries."
The congressman's message arrived hours after Rubio announced sanctions against GAESA, the military conglomerate that controls between 40% and 70% of the formal Cuban economy, with estimated assets of over 18 billion dollars.
The Secretary of State referred to GAESA as "the heart of the kleptocratic communist system of Cuba" and pointed to the financial core of the regime by also including its president, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, and the state mining company Moa Nickel S.A. among the targets.
The sanctions package, implemented under Executive Order 14404 signed by Trump on May 1, 2026, included 12 current and former officials, seven military and security entities, and three vessels.
Moreover, the U.S. set June 5 as the deadline for foreign companies to cease their operations with GAESA, under the risk of secondary sanctions.
The impact was immediate: on that same day, the Canadian mining company Sherritt International —partner of Moa Nickel since 1994— suspended all its operations in Cuba and began the repatriation of its expatriate employees, representing one of the most significant economic blows to the regime in recent years.
The measures are part of a policy of maximum pressure that, since January 2026, has accumulated more than 240 new sanctions against Cuba, worsening an economic crisis that is already experiencing power outages of up to 22 hours a day following the capture of Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, which eliminated between 80% and 90% of the Venezuelan oil supply to the island.
Díaz-Balart, one of the main advocates of this policy alongside Congress members María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez, had hinted at the course of events on April 9: "I am convinced that this dictatorship will not survive President Trump's term."
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