DistantNews
Support us
🇶🇦 Qatar /Economy & Trade

US continues to squeeze Cuban economy with new round of sanctions

From Al Jazeera · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Official statement Ongoing story
  • The United States imposed new sanctions on several Cuban companies and on Fidel Ernesto Castro, the grandson of former leader Raúl Castro.
  • The measures form part of President Donald Trump's campaign to pressure Cuba's government and encourage regime change.
  • Cuba has announced market-oriented reforms, but critics and the U.N. human rights chief say US restrictions are worsening access to energy, health care and essential supplies.

The United States has opened another front in its campaign to squeeze Cuba, sanctioning several Cuban companies and Fidel Ernesto Castro, the 31-year-old grandson of former leader Raúl Castro. The move comes as Havana announces new efforts to loosen state control and expand space for private business.

Cuba’s Communist regime elites preside over a failed state where ordinary Cubans go hungry.

· Marco RubioThe US secretary of state defended the new sanctions in a social media post.

The State Department says the sanctions target Cuba's leadership. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the country's Communist authorities of presiding over a failed state where ordinary Cubans go hungry. He also argued that Cuba exports what he called “subversive Marxist ideology to the United States and other states in the Western Hemisphere.”

Since January, the Trump administration has intensified pressure through escalating sanctions and a de facto fuel blockade. Cuba already faces a decades-old US embargo dating to the Cold War. Rubio has said further measures are needed to punish what he describes as decades of mismanagement and repression.

Subversive Marxist ideology to the United States and other states in the Western Hemisphere.

· Marco RubioRubio accused Cuba of exporting this ideology while describing the island as a security threat.

Havana has responded with steps intended to defuse the criticism. In June, it adopted 176 pro-market measures, described as its biggest free-market reforms in decades. It has also released prisoners as a “humanitarian and sovereign gesture.” On Thursday, the government announced 34 pages of legal changes affecting industries including tourism. Private companies will be allowed to establish independent tour and travel agencies, hire workers without using state agencies and, in some cases, open foreign bank accounts.

Humanitarian and sovereign gesture.

· Cuban governmentThe phrase described Cuba's release of prisoners.

Those moves have not placated Washington. Critics say the sanctions and energy blockade have pushed Cuba's power grid and health-care system toward collapse. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in June that the restrictions were “directly harming Cubans.” He added, “Children are dying because doctors lack access to essential medical supplies and medicines,” and called the situation unacceptable.

Directly harming Cubans.

· Volker TürkThe U.N. human rights chief criticized the impact of restrictions on Cuba.
About this summary

Originally published by Al Jazeera. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog