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The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a formal warning to individuals and companies that are not U.S. persons —including foreign financial institutions— about the risks of sanctions for engaging in transactions with GAESA, the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), and the Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) of Cuba.
The entity updated its list of Specially Designated Nationals with new high-profile designations, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published the Frequently Asked Question 1258, which clearly states that "as of June 4, 2026, GAESA, MININT, and MINFAR are blocked under Executive Order 14404," signed by President Trump on May 1, 2026.
After that, the office issued this warning, which is particularly significant because it extends the risk of sanctions beyond the three main entities: "the risk of sanctions also applies to transactions with any entity in which GAESA, MININT, or MINFAR hold, directly or indirectly, 50% or more of the capital," the document states.
The OFAC also warns that "many of the entities listed on the Cuba Restricted List are owned 50% or more by one of these three entities and, therefore, pose the same risk of sanctions."
The agency goes further to warn that "any entity on Cuba's Restricted List that is not blocked could be subject to future sanctioning actions," stating that "individuals conducting transactions with any entity on that list run the risk of being sanctioned themselves by the U.S. government."
Alongside the warning, OFAC has today added the Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza, born in Holguín in 1971, to its list of sanctioned individuals.
Also appointed were Alejandro Castro Espín, known as "El Tuerto," the son of Raúl Castro and recognized as a central figure in the Cuban intelligence apparatus, and his son Raúl Alejandro Castro Calis, 30 years old and residing in Havana.
Among the entities added to the list are MINFAR itself, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), the travel agency AMISTUR Cuba S.A. —linked to ICAP— and the mining company Minera La Victoria S.A., based in the Miramar Business Center in Havana.
The new designations come one day after the deadline that the OFAC had granted to foreign companies to cease operations with GAESA before becoming subject to secondary sanctions.
The MININT has an additional history of sanctions: it had already been blocked under the Global Magnitsky program—Executive Order 13818—since January 2021, which reinforces the seriousness of engaging with that institution.
The first designations under EO 14404 occurred on May 7, 2026, when the U.S. sanctioned GAESA and its CEO, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, along with Moa Nickel S.A. On May 18, Washington expanded sanctions against high-ranking Cuban intelligence officials and extended the designations of MININT and the National Revolutionary Police under the framework of EO 14404.
The OFAC recommends that all non-U.S. persons "conduct enhanced due diligence to adopt a risk-based approach in their transactions with GAESA, MININT, MINFAR, or any entity in which they directly or indirectly own 50% or more of the capital," and suggests consulting U.S. Government sources, including the Cuba Restricted List from the Department of State.
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