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The Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) and its associated company Amistur S.A. publicly rejected the sanctions imposed by the United States government and demanded their immediate removal from the list of restricted entities of the Department of the Treasury, according to the state-run newspaper Granma.
The measure was implemented on June 4th by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as part of a new round of sanctions by the Donald Trump administration against the Cuban regime. On that same day, Miguel Díaz-Canel; his wife, Lis Cuesta Peraza; the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR), and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) were also sanctioned.
The official response was shared by the president of ICAP, Fernando González Llort, who described the U.S. decision as a "political act of hostility based on slander" aimed at justifying the tightening of economic pressures against the island.
In the statement, the institution specifically rejected the accusations made by Washington, which claim that ICAP supports campaigns aimed at undermining the national security of the United States and promotes the ideology of the Cuban regime abroad.
The organization stated that both claims are "absolutely false" and defended that, during its 65 years of existence, its work has been limited to promoting friendship, cooperation, and solidarity between Cuba and various peoples of the world.
However, the statement does not reference one of the elements that U.S. authorities typically cite to question the role of the organization: the history of its current president, Fernando González Llort, who was convicted in the United States for espionage activities as a member of the Wasp Network during the 1990s.
It also does not mention that the State Department considers ICAP an international influence platform linked to Cuban intelligence services, a characterization that differs from the image of a solidarity organization that the entity publicly projects.
The text also criticized the recent measures taken by Washington. According to the ICAP, the executive orders signed on January 29 and May 1, 2026, along with the actions aimed at restricting Cuba's access to income and fuel, deliberately seek to worsen the country's economic situation and provoke a humanitarian crisis.
The organization went so far as to characterize the U.S. policy towards Cuba as "genocidal" and accused Washington of acting hypocritically by pointing to the ICAP while, it claimed, allocating millions in resources to programs aimed at influencing the political landscape in Cuba.
In its statement, the organization also demanded an end to economic sanctions and military threats against the island, while urging international solidarity movements to mobilize against what it described as an attempt to criminalize support for Cuba.
The sanctions against the ICAP are part of a broader strategy to pressure the Cuban regime. Since January 2026, the Trump administration has imposed over 240 restrictive measures aimed at entities, officials, and structures linked to power on the island, including the military conglomerate GAESA and figures in the political and intelligence elite of the country.
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