The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs announced it will impose additional sanctions on the Cuban Regime’s “Instruments of Repression” and “Source of Funding” as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to end the communist-led government’s “malign activities.”
In a press release issued this week, the Department of State unveiled the designations of ten entities that serve as “pillars” of the Cuban government’s “oppressive” apparatus.
These state-owned entities reportedly “funnel revenue to the regime and paramilitary forces, armed civilian groups, and surveillance organizations that repress the Cuban people.”
Cuba's "Instruments of Repression"
According to the agency, the communist-led nation’s Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution (ACRC), para-military Milicias de Tropas Territoriales (MTT), Corporación Antillana Exportadora (ANTEX S.A.) – an entity that oversees “the export of Cuban forced labor in Angola” –, and Rapid Response Brigades are entities serving as tools of repression.
Cuban Regime's "Sources of Funding"
The Bureau also accused several entities involved in the island’s energy sector, such as Enetec S.A. and Coreydan S.A., Grupo Empresarial de Comerico Exterior (GECOMEX) – the nation’s foreign trade manager –, its state-owned risk, financial, and professional services entity, and its Ministry of Tourism, as sources of funding that aid in its “malign activities.”
Citing Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement on the July 11, 2021, demonstrations in Cuba, the Bureau affirmed that the U.S. “will continue to use every tool at our disposal to both address the national security threats posed by the Cuban Communist regime, and to drive the economic and political reforms to give Cuba a better future.”
The Bureau of Western Hemisphere announcement comes a couple of days after the fifth anniversary of the July 11, 2021, peaceful protests in Cuba.
“President Trump and I want a better future for Cuba and its long-suffering people,” Secretary Rubio wrote in his statement.
“Cuba’s leaders must simply choose to commit themselves to real reforms, peace and prosperity—before it is too late,” he concluded.
