Dariel Fernandez, tax collector of Miami-Dade County, issued an official statement in which he supported the sanctions announced that same day by the Trump administration against individuals and entities connected to the networks of influence and subversion of the Cuban dictatorship abroad.
The measures, implemented under the Executive Order 14404 signed by President Donald Trump on May 1, 2026, designated three leaders of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), including its president Fernando González Llort, along with nine Cuban state entities, including the Ministry of Construction of Cuba, and organizations in the sectors of mining, metallurgy, and foreign trade.
Fernandez was particularly emphatic regarding González Llort: "He is not merely an official of the Cuban communist dictatorship. He was convicted for his involvement in the Red Avispa, the Cuban intelligence operation that infiltrated the United States and targeted southern Florida."
González Llort, known as one of the so-called "Five from Cuba," spent 15 years in prison in the United States before being released in 2014 as part of the thaw between the governments of Obama and Castro. Since 2017, he has been the president of ICAP, an organization that the State Department describes as a central piece of the regime's external influence apparatus.
For Fernandez, the appointment of the leaders of the ICAP reveals a connection that the regime has tried to obscure for decades: “The communist dictatorship of Cuba cannot hide the political indoctrination and subversive activities under the guise of friendship, cultural exchange, or international solidarity, while denying the Cuban people the same freedoms it seeks to exploit in democratic countries.”
The collector also targeted the sanctioned economic entities: "These government institutions and state-controlled entities do not exist to generate prosperity for the Cuban people. They help finance and preserve a communist system that has remained in power through censorship, surveillance, political imprisonment, and repression for over six decades."
The statement is part of the report "Cuba: The Capital of Communism in the 21st Century", published by the State Department on July 20 under the guidance of Secretary Marco Rubio, which documents decades of espionage, subversion, and international ideological influence of the Cuban regime.
Fernandez, the first elected tax collector in Miami-Dade in over sixty years, has maintained a consistent stance since taking office in November 2024.
In January 2026, he alerted Trump and Rubio about national security risks associated with commercial licenses with Cuba; in February, he stated that “there is no dialogue with Cuba”; in June, he revoked licenses from three companies that were exporting cement to Cuba without federal authorization; and last Saturday, he responded to Senator Chris Van Hollen by stating that the Cuban people do not suffer because of Trump or Rubio, but due to “a communist-socialist dictatorship.”
In his most recent statement, the official was clear about the scope and purpose of the sanctions: "They are not aimed at the Cuban people. They are aimed at the individuals, institutions, and networks that support the communist dictatorship of Cuba and keep the Cuban people oppressed."
"The objective must remain clear: to protect the United States from hostile foreign influence, hold the communist dictatorship of Cuba and its operatives accountable, free the political prisoners in Cuba, and support a future in which the Cuban people can live under democracy, economic freedom, and the rule of law," concluded Fernandez.
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