Miami-Dade County’s (MDC) Office of the Tax Collector is joining the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Cuba by ensuring that the communist-led nation’s attempts to remain in power through economic reforms do not succeed.
In a video statement on X, MDC Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez affirmed that despite Cuba’s recent free-market overhaul, U.S. individuals and businesses are barred from conducting business with the Caribbean island.
The Cuban Regime Is Promoting A Trap
“What the communist and socialist dictatorship of Cuba is promoting is not an opportunity; it’s a trap. It’s a desperate attempt of a failed regime that in recent times has had to resort to pressure and manipulation in order to survive,” Fernandez affirmed. “They want to trick once again those who were forced to leave their country, asking them to return and invest in the same system that oppressed them, confiscated their goods, and destroyed their future.”
Cuba does not need another economic scheme that strengthens the very regime responsible for decades of repression and suffering. American investment must never become a lifeline for dictatorship. U.S. individuals and businesses must follow all applicable sanctions, licensing… pic.twitter.com/4QxMX9p1mA
— Miami-Dade County Office of the Tax Collector (@MDCTaxCollector) August 10, 2026
Cuba's Recent Economic Reforms
Fernandez’s announcement comes nearly a month after Cuba first announced a long list of reforms, including “23 strategic areas and 176 proposals” such as the authorization of direct foreign investment into the private sector.
Amid the gradual implementation of its economic policies, Cuba has allowed foreign businesses to import and sell fuel while allowing Cuban businesses to engage in wholesale fuel distribution on the island.
Cuba also recently approved a new agriculture policy granting private producers 20% of Cuban land, both foreign and domestic; new measures for “private tour companies, car rental businesses, and eco-tourism ventures,” and its first specially regulated Economic Development Zone to create a holistically foreign-owned company in the health tourism industry.
Despite the U.S. pressure campaign, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel argued that the government’s reforms were not concessions. He affirmed that sectors such as healthcare, culture, science, or national strategic services would not be privatized.
In his announcement, Fernandez assured that every business registered in Florida and that operates in MDC must adhere to the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s sanctions, warning those in violation that their local business tax receipt would be revoked.
