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The United States Ambassador to Panama, Kevin Marino Cabrera, held a meeting on Monday with Samuel Parker, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Threat Financing and Financial Crimes at the State Department, to strengthen coordination with Panamanian authorities and warn about the risks of facilitating financial operations linked to the Cuban regime.
After the meeting, Cabrera sent a message directed at banks and businesses in the region.
"Banks and foreign companies must be aware of the risks involved in facilitating the evasion of sanctions," wrote the diplomat on his X account.
Cabrera added that, under President Donald Trump's leadership, "economic security is national security" and explained that the new sanctions aim to "cut the illicit flows of money that help finance the regime's repression."
Parker's visit is part of the strategy with which Washington has increased its pressure on the Cuban Government during 2026, combining new economic sanctions with diplomatic efforts directed at countries considered strategic for the regional financial system.
Panama, a key point in Washington's strategy
The meeting is particularly significant because Panama has historically been a jurisdiction used by companies linked to the Cuban economic and military apparatus to carry out international operations.
Among the most well-known cases are FINCIMEX (Financiera Cimex S.A.), established in Panama since 1984, and Kave Coffee S.A., operator of the Cubita brand, both of which were added by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to its list of sanctioned entities in November 2020.
The Trump administration believes that preventing the use of third countries to circumvent sanctions is an essential component of its policy towards Cuba.
Sanctions with international reach
The main instrument of this strategy is Executive Order 14404, signed by Trump on May 1, 2026, which expanded restrictions against entities controlled by the military conglomerate GAESA and included the possibility of applying secondary sanctions.
Under this mechanism, banks, companies, or foreign individuals conducting certain transactions with sanctioned entities may face restrictions from the United States, including access to the U.S. financial system.
The deadline set by Washington for foreign companies to cease operations with GAESA expired on June 5, after which the U.S. administration has intensified its engagement with governments and international partners to warn about the consequences of maintaining commercial relations with sanctioned entities.
In that context, on June 23, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that "anyone providing services to these sanctioned actors risks being sanctioned themselves," after announcing new measures against the Banco Financiero Internacional (BFI) and RAFIN S.A.
In recent months, several foreign companies have announced changes in their operations related to Cuba, while others are reassessing their business ties with entities included on the U.S. sanctions list.
The meeting held this Monday in Panama City represents a new step in Washington's diplomatic strategy to strengthen the enforcement of those measures from one of the major financial and logistics hubs in Latin America.
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