The Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, described the new sanctions announced by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio this Thursday as "an open war against the entire people" and stated that Rubio "has a very twisted spirit."
The statements, posted on social media, came hours after Rubio announced a new round of sanctions against nine entities and two high-ranking Cuban officials, based on Executive Order 14404 that President Donald Trump signed on May 1, 2026.
Among the designated entities are CEINPET, ENERSA S.A., EINARBO S.A., CSMC, and UCCM, linked to the energy sector and the program for Cuban medical missions abroad.
The Minister of Public Health José Ángel Portal Miranda and the official Gretza Sánchez Padrón were also sanctioned, marking the first time that the measures directly target the medical mission apparatus.
Fernández de Cossío has become the most active voice of the Cuban regime in response to pressure from Washington throughout 2026, with rhetoric that has escalated week by week.
In May, he accused Rubio of lying "deliberately" to justify a "cruel and ruthless aggression" against the Cuban people.
In June, he described the sanctions against the state oil company CUPET as “collective punishment” that deprived Cuba of fuels, and on the 26th of that same month, he referred to the economic pressure as “incredible” and of “extraterritorial” scope.
On July 2nd, he blamed the United States for the chaos faced by Cubans and denounced pressures from Washington for third countries to cancel agreements with the island's medical missions.
On July 17, he accused the United States of being the “main source of terrorism” in the Western Hemisphere, and last Wednesday he labeled Rubio's policy as a “dirty political deal.”
The chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla has also added his voice to the official chorus, attributing the sanctions to "ambitions of conquest" and "vengeful feelings" of the political elite that supported Rubio's candidacy.
Since January 2026, the Trump administration has amassed over 240 sanctions against Cuba, progressively impacting the economic pillars of the regime: the military conglomerate GAESA, the banking system, the tourism sector, and now the medical missions program.
Rubio himself denied on Wednesday, during a press conference in Manila, having set a timeline for a regime change in Cuba before the end of 2026, although he described the island as a "failed state" and warned in July that the Cuban leadership still had room to undertake "real reforms" before it was "too late."
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