The state-owned company Unión Cuba-Petróleo (CUPET) issued an official statement in which it "categorically" rejects the sanctions announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, a measure that Washington justified as a response to the regime's use of energy to finance repression.
The text, posted on CUPET's social media, describes the measures as "unjust and arbitrary" and concludes with the revolutionary slogan "Homeland or Death! We Will Overcome!".
The CUPET statement, point by point
The state oil company asserts that the sanctions “aim to directly affect the normal functioning of our operations and strike a blow at a strategic sector of the country.”
The text denounces that the measures "not only restrict access to essential financial and technological resources for the functioning of the industry, but also seek to exacerbate the energy crisis and limit Cuba's economic development."
The company assures that “no external sanction can break the will of our workers nor halt the mission of serving Cuba with transparency, responsibility, and discipline.”
The statement calls upon its employees with the warning that “any action taken in wells, plants, and oil facilities is a direct contribution to the resistance and well-being of the people.”
The sanctions that prompted the response
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the designation of CUPET as a sanctioned entity under Executive Order 14404, signed by President Donald Trump on May 1, 2026.
The measure blocks all assets and interests of CUPET in U.S. territory and prohibits any transactions with the oil company without a specific license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Rubio accused the regime of having "stolen and hoarded the available fuel, using it for the Castro family's private planes, the security forces employed to repress the Cuban people, to keep empty tourist hotels lit, and to transport people in buses for staged protests."
The Secretary of State also warned that "we will continue to target the capacity of the communist regime" to use energy trade as a tool of repression.
The energy context surrounding the sanction
The sanctions come at the worst energy moment that Cuba has experienced in decades.
Since January 2026, Venezuelan supplies were halted following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, and Mexico stopped its shipments for fear of U.S. tariffs.
The electricity deficit reached a record of 2,153 MW on May 13, with blackouts lasting up to 22 hours a day in Havana.
The Minister of Energy, Vicente de la O Levy, admitted that Cuba had "absolutely no fuel, no diesel, only accompanying gas," and that in April only one fuel ship arrived when the country needed at least eight per month.
Background and reactions
The designation of CUPET is the second significant action under EO 14404 in less than five weeks, following the sanctions against GAESA on May 7.
The sanction came a day after it was revealed that Vanguard Energy, a company based in Coral Gables (Florida), had signed a contract to lease facilities from CUPET and send over 250,000 barrels of fuel per trip. The State Department denied having authorized that operation, and Miami-Dade revoked the company's business license.
The Prime Minister Manuel Marrero denounced the measure as a "new assault" that aggravates the "energy blockade," while lawyer Luis Carlos Battista described it as a potential "coup de grâce" for the regime as it impacts essential services such as water pumping and the use of ambulances.
Rubio summed up Washington's position: "President Trump desires a new future for the Cuban people with greater freedom and economic and political opportunities. Until then, we will continue to undermine the communist regime's ability to use its energy trade to promote its corrupt agenda and violently repress the Cuban people."
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