US continues to squeeze Cuban economy with new round of sanctions

Cuba announces new pro-market reforms amid threats of a military attack from US President Donald Trump’s administration.

Students salute before getting into their classrooms on their first day of the 2026-2027 academic year in Havana, on September 1, 2026 [Yamil Lage/AFP]

The United States has announced a new series of economic sanctions targeting Cuba, its latest step in a campaign to squeeze the island’s already fragile economy.

The US State Department said on Thursday that it was sanctioning several Cuban companies and 31-year-old Fidel Ernesto Castro, grandson of 95-year-old former leader Raul Castro.

list 1 of 3 ‘To play God’: Cuba’s healthcare system collapses under US pressure

list 2 of 3 Cuba’s power grid collapses again despite restoration efforts

list 3 of 3 US pummels Cuban economy with new sanctions on mining, construction

“Cuba’s Communist regime elites preside over a failed state where ordinary Cubans go hungry,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a social media post on Thursday.

Since January, President Donald Trump has undertaken a heightened campaign to weaken Cuba’s government, in an effort to spur regime change.

Part of that campaign has been a series of escalating sanctions, as well as a de facto fuel blockade. Cuba had already been under a historic, decades-long US embargo that stretches back to the Cold War.

But Rubio argued that further actions were necessary to penalise Cuba’s leadership for decades of mismanagement and repression.

He further accused Cuba of seeking to “export subversive Marxist ideology to the United States and other states in the Western Hemisphere”, echoing Trump’s assertions that the island is a national security threat.

Since the start of the heightened pressure campaign in January, Cuba has taken steps to defuse the criticism.

In June, it passed its biggest free-market reforms in decades, with 176 new measures. It has also conducted prisoner releases as a “humanitarian and sovereign gesture”.

On Thursday, further reforms were announced, with 34 pages of legal changes designed to loosen regulation and state control in industries like tourism.

Under the new rules, private companies will be able to establish tour and travel agencies, separate from the Cuban government. They also will not have to contract employees through state agencies.

It will also become easier for some domestic investors to open foreign bank accounts.

But such steps have thus far done little to placate the Trump administration.

Since the start of the year, the US has repeatedly threatened Cuba with military intervention , and its sanction campaign has continued.

Critics warn that the sanctions, combined with the ongoing energy blockade, have pushed the country’s power grid and healthcare systems to the point of collapse.

Volker Turk , the high commissioner for human rights at the United Nations, stated in June that such restrictions were “directly harming Cubans” and called for their end.

“Children are dying because doctors lack access to essential medical supplies and medicines,” said Turk. “This is unacceptable.”

Rubio, on the other hand, has argued that Cuba’s government, a thorn in the side of Washington since the leftist revolution of 1959, is responsible for the island’s poor economic conditions.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez accused the US of fabricating threats as a pretext for pressuring the country, in an interview published in the state-run newspaper Gramma on Thursday.

“The truth is that Cuba does not threaten US national security or the US economy, nor does it wish to do so,” he said. “The accusation that Cuba allegedly sponsors terrorism actually reveals the US government’s lack of seriousness.”

In addition to targeting the Castro family, Thursday’s new sanctions cover two companies involved in Cuba’s nickel mining industry, two companies active in Cuba’s flagging energy sector, including an oil import company, and Banco Exterior de Cuba, a state-owned bank.

面对美国总统唐纳德·特朗普政府的军事打击威胁，古巴宣布了新的亲市场改革措施。

2026年9月1日，哈瓦那，学生们在2026-2027学年第一天上课前敬礼进入教室。[Yamil Lage/AFP]

美国宣布对古巴实施一系列新的经济制裁，这是其旨在进一步挤压古巴本已脆弱的经济的最新举措。

美国国务院周四表示，将对几家古巴公司和31岁的菲德尔·埃内斯托·卡斯特罗（95岁的前领导人劳尔·卡斯特罗的孙子）实施制裁。

列表 1/3 “扮演上帝”：古巴医疗体系在美国压力下崩溃

古巴电网尽管努力抢修，但仍再次崩溃（共3条记录，此为第2条）。

美国对古巴采矿和建筑业实施新制裁，重创古巴经济（共3条，此为第3条）。

美国国务卿马可·卢比奥周四在社交媒体上发帖称：“古巴共产党政权的精英统治着一个失败的国家，普通古巴人挨饿。”

自1月以来，唐纳德·特朗普总统加大了削弱古巴政府的力度，试图推动古巴政权更迭。

这场行动的一部分包括一系列不断升级的制裁，以及事实上的燃料封锁。此前，古巴已经遭受了美国长达数十年的历史性禁运，这项禁运可以追溯到冷战时期。

但鲁比奥认为，必须采取进一步行动来惩罚古巴领导层数十年来的管理不善和镇压行为。

他还指责古巴试图“向美国和西半球其他国家输出颠覆性的马克思主义意识形态”，这与特朗普的说法相呼应，即古巴对国家安全构成威胁。

自1月份加大施压行动开始以来，古巴已采取措施化解批评。

今年6月，该国通过了数十年来规模最大的自由市场改革，包含176项新措施。此外，该国还以“人道主义和主权姿态”释放了部分囚犯。

周四，政府宣布了进一步的改革措施，其中包括 34 页的法律修改，旨在放松对旅游业等行业的监管和国家控制。

根据新规，私营公司可以独立于古巴政府设立旅游公司，也无需通过国家机构雇佣员工。

此外，一些国内投资者开设海外银行账户也将变得更加容易。

但迄今为止，这些措施并未起到安抚特朗普政府的作用。

今年以来，美国多次威胁要对古巴进行军事干预，其制裁行动也一直在继续。

批评人士警告说，制裁加上持续的能源封锁，已经使该国的电网和医疗系统濒临崩溃。

联合国人权事务高级专员沃尔克·图尔克在6月份表示，此类限制“直接损害了古巴人民的利益”，并呼吁结束这些限制。

“由于医生缺乏必要的医疗用品和药品，导致儿童死亡，”特克说。“这是不可接受的。”

另一方面，鲁比奥则认为，自 1959 年左翼革命以来一直是华盛顿眼中钉的古巴政府，应对该岛糟糕的经济状况负责。

古巴外交部长布鲁诺·罗德里格斯周四在官方报纸《格拉玛报》上发表的采访中指责美国捏造威胁，以此为借口向古巴施压。

他说：“事实是，古巴既不威胁美国国家安全，也不希望威胁美国经济。所谓古巴支持恐怖主义的指控，实际上暴露了美国政府的轻率。”

除了针对卡斯特罗家族外，周四的新制裁还涵盖了两家参与古巴镍矿开采行业的公司、两家活跃于古巴疲软能源行业的公司（包括一家石油进口公司）以及古巴国有银行古巴对外银行。