The Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday the sanctions against Unión Cuba-Petróleo (CUPET), the Cuban state-owned company that controls the import, refining, and distribution of fuels on the island, under the Executive Order 14404 by President Trump.
Rubio made the announcement through his official account on X and directly accused the regime's leadership of turning energy into an instrument of repression and illicit enrichment.
“The Cuban communist elites have weaponized energy as a tool for social control and kleptocratic profit,” Rubio wrote in his post.
The Secretary of State detailed the use that the regime has made of fuel over the decades.
"The regime has stolen and hoarded the available fuel, using it for the Castro's private plane, for the security forces employed to suppress the Cuban people, to keep empty tourist hotels lit, and to transport people in buses for fake protests and political maneuvers," he added.
All of that, Rubio emphasized, happened “while the Cuban people suffered blackouts and waited weeks to fill the tanks of their cars.”
In the official statement accompanying the sanction, Rubio stated that energy has long been used by the Cuban government as a tool of "repression and kleptocracy for its own benefit".
According to the Secretary of State, the leaders of the island have diverted energy resources to supply military and intelligence forces, resell fuel in secondary markets, and use rationing as a mechanism of social control.
Rubio closed his announcement with a direct message about Washington's objectives:
"President Trump envisions a new future for the Cuban people with greater freedom and economic and political opportunities. Until then, we will continue to undermine the ability of the communist regime to use its energy trade to promote its corrupt agenda and violently suppress the Cuban people."
The sanction blocks the Vanguard-CUPET agreement
In its official statement, the State Department also recalled that CUPET controls assets that were illegally expropriated from American owners. Rubio explained that the designation was made in accordance with Section 2(a)(i)(A) of Executive Order 14404, for operating in the energy sector of the Cuban economy.
"While ordinary Cubans wait weeks to fill their car tanks and suffer from constant blackouts, the Castro family travels in a private jet, the government transports fake demonstrators on buses for publicity stunts, and the regime prioritizes maintaining electric supply in luxury tourist hotels," Rubio stated in the announcement.
The official notice also specifies that all assets and property interests of CUPET located in the United States or under the control of U.S. persons are blocked and subject to supervision by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury.
Additionally, the restrictions apply to any entity that is owned, either individually or jointly, by 50% or more of sanctioned individuals or companies.
The State Department emphasized that the prohibitions extend to any transaction involving funds, assets, or services related to the designated entity, unless there is a specific license or exemption authorized by the OFAC.
The announcement comes one day after it was revealed that Vanguard Energy, a company based in Coral Gables (Florida), had allegedly signed a contract with a Cuban importing agency to lease CUPET facilities and send more than 250,000 barrels of gasoline and diesel per trip, which was described as the largest shipment of U.S. fuel to Cuba since the Eisenhower era.
However, on the same Wednesday, the State Department denied having authorized that operation, stating that “the sanctions from the Trump administration remain in effect in the absence of specific guidance or a contrary license.”
The designation of CUPET as a sanctioned entity definitively closes any legal ambiguity: no American company will be able to operate through its facilities without violating federal sanctions.
A sustained escalation against the economic apparatus of the regime
The sanction against CUPET is the second major action under EO 14404 in less than five weeks.
On May 7, Rubio had already formalized sanctions against GAESA, the military-business conglomerate that controls tourism and Cuban imports, along with its executive president Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera and the company Moa Nickel S.A.
On May 19, Rubio publicly anticipated that more sanctions would be imposed against the elites of the regime under the same executive order.
EO 14404 also introduced secondary sanctions for foreign companies and financial institutions that maintained ties with sanctioned entities, which led shipping companies like Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM to suspend operations with Cuba in May.
The State Department warned on Thursday that foreign individuals and companies doing business with sanctioned entities or organizations linked to the energy, military, financial, mining, or security sectors of the Cuban economy may expose themselves to U.S. punitive measures. The warning explicitly includes foreign financial institutions that facilitate operations related to CUPET.
"The Trump Administration will continue to undermine Cuba's ability to use energy trade as a means to further its corrupt agenda and repressive security apparatus," Rubio stated while announcing the measure.
The statement adds that the decision also aligns with the objectives of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14380, titled Addressing Threats to the United States from the Government of Cuba, and with Presidential National Security Memorandum 5 (NSPM-5), which instructs the U.S. government to promote human rights, the rule of law, free enterprise, and democracy in Cuba.
Washington also recalled that sanctions aim to modify behavior and not just to punish. "The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to foster a positive change in behavior," the statement concludes.
Cuba, in the worst energy crisis of its history
The sanctions come at the worst energy moment the island has experienced in decades.
Since January 2026, the supply of Venezuelan oil was disrupted following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, and Mexico halted its shipments out of fear of U.S. tariffs.
The electrical deficit reached a record of 2,153 MW on May 13, with blackouts lasting up to 22 hours daily in Havana and over forty consecutive hours in some areas of eastern Cuba.
The Cuban Minister of Energy, Vicente de la O Levy, admitted in May that Cuba had "absolutely no fuel, no diesel, only associated gas."
Currently, Cuba generates less than 1,000 megawatts of electricity, barely a third of the approximately 3,000 MW needed to meet national demand.
The crisis has sparked an unprecedented wave of protests: the Cuban Conflict Observatory recorded 1,311 demonstrations just in May 2026, with noise-making, barricades, and bonfires in at least 12 municipalities in Havana.
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