The Trump administration has imposed new sanctions on nine Cuban state-owned firms in the construction, mining and metals sectors, while tightening restrictions on US citizens doing business with Cuban state entities.
The latest measures follow Havana’s rejection of the curbs after several American citizens returning from events associated with Fidel Castro’s 100th birthday were briefly detained at Miami airport, as the island continues to grapple with a deteriorating economic downturn.
According to the US Treasury and State departments, the newly announced restrictions target leaders of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP). US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted that the organisation is accountable for sponsoring “a vast subversive network in the United States aimed at identifying, cultivating, and radicalising” Americans.
