The United States sanctioned former spy Fernando González Llort, president of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) and former member of the Wasp Network, on Thursday, along with two other figures from that organization: Noemí Rabaza Fernández and Leima Martínez Freire.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), part of the Department of the Treasury, added the three to the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) under Executive Order 14404 and explicitly identified them as individuals linked to ICAP.
González is the current president of ICAP and was one of the members of the so-called Red Avispa, dismantled in Florida at the end of the 1990s. Additionally, he was convicted in the United States for espionage activities and has led the Cuban institution since 2017.
The other two sanctioned individuals are Noemí Rabaza Fernández, first vice president of ICAP, and Leima Martínez Freire, director for the North America area.
Ironically, or not, the sanction against González Llort comes just two days after the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel publicly congratulated him on his 63rd birthday.
In his message, Díaz-Canel referred to him as the "Hero of the Republic of Cuba" and emphasized "his life dedicated to the Revolution," in addition to praising his work at the helm of ICAP.
The new action by OFAC also modified the ICAP registry to add other locations associated with the institution, including the House of Friendship, the Salvador Allende Memorial House, and the Julio Antonio Mella International Camp, in Artemisa.
The individual inclusion of the three occurs after Washington sanctioned ICAP on June 4, when it also added to the SDN list the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), the travel agency Amistur Cuba S.A., Minera La Victoria S.A., and the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR).
On that occasion, Washington presented the ICAP as part of the international projection structure of the Cuban government.
The organization, established in December 1960, officially presents itself as an institution dedicated to promoting solidarity and friendship between Cuba and foreign organizations.
The sanctions against Fernando González Llort, Noemí Rabaza Fernández, and Leima Martínez Freire are part of a broader update to the SDN list, which also included eight Cuban state enterprises and the Ministry of Construction, as well as separate designations related to terrorism, drug trafficking, and Iran.
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