Related videos:
The U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned on Monday the Antillana Exportadora Corporation S.A. (ANTEX), the executive arm of the military conglomerate GAESA in Angola, along with nine other state entities, in a new round of designations that tightens the economic pressure against the Cuban regime.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) included ANTEX on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, explicitly linked to Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. The corporation, established on January 1, 1998, and registered under entity code 60245, also operates under the names Antex Exporting Corporation S.A., Antex S.A., Antillean Exporter PLC, Corporación Antex S.A., and Corporación Comercial Antex S.A.
ANTEX is the vehicle through which GAESA manages Cuban medical missions in Angola: it hires professionals, manages visas and flights, and oversees the accounts where the income generated from these services is deposited. Between 2013 and 2017, GAESA received over 1 billion dollars from Angola through this corporation for health services and construction.
In August 2025, more than 2,000 Cuban doctors in Angola reported that ANTEX was withholding accumulated salaries ranging from $20,000 to $22,000, and they were preparing a legal claim against the corporation.
Along with ANTEX, the OFAC designated nine other Cuban entities under Executive Order 14404, signed by President Donald Trump on May 1, 2026.
Among the sanctioned companies are COREYDAN S.A. and ENETEC S.A., both from the fuels sector; the Maritime Port Transport Business Group (GEMAR), which includes 32 companies from the sector; and the Foreign Trade Business Group (GECOMEX), which manages over 20% of Cuban imports and includes firms such as Alimport, Cubaexport, and Quimimport.
The Superior Organization of Business Management CAUDAL S.A., a state-owned conglomerate of insurance and financial services, was also blocked, along with the Cuban Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR), marking the first direct designation of the governing body of tourism on the island, the main source of foreign currency for the regime.
The list is completed with three internal repression organizations: the Quick Response Brigades, civilian groups trained to dissolve protests, active since June 1991; the Cuban Revolution Combatants Association (ACRC), with over 337,000 members retired from the Armed Forces and MININT, and the Territorial Troops Militias (MTT), a civil-military force established in January 1980.
This is the sixth round of sanctions in less than three months. The previous ones included the direct designation of GAESA and its CEO on May 7; the formal penalization of GAESA, MININT, and MINFAR along with Miguel Díaz-Canel and his entourage on June 4; and financial entities linked to GAESA on June 23.
The State Department simultaneously released a statement titled “New Sanctions on the Sources of Funding and Tools of Oppression of the Cuban Regime”, which accompanies the Treasury action and emphasizes the coordinated nature of Washington's pressure on Havana.
The sanction against MINTUR comes at a time when international tourism in Cuba had already experienced a 48% decline in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period the previous year, partly as a result of the accumulated impact of previous designations on the hotel sector and foreign companies operating on the Island.
Filed under: