The United States imposed sanctions on Cuba’s state-owned oil and gas company, escalating pressure on Havana as the Trump administration accused the Communist government of using energy resources to sustain repression and enrich its leadership.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the designation of Union Cuba-Petroleo (CUPET), Cuba’s state-owned energy company, under President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14404. Rubio said Like every resource on the island, energy has long been weaponized by Cuba’s Communist government as a tool of both repression and self-serving regime of kleptocracy.
The US State Department alleged that while ordinary Cubans have faced fuel shortages and recurring blackouts because of decades of under-investment in infrastructure, the country’s leadership has diverted energy resources for its own benefit.
Under the sanctions, all property and interests in property belonging to CUPET that are in the United States or under the control of U.S. persons will be blocked and must be reported to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The restrictions also prohibit transactions involving the sanctioned entity unless specifically authorised by OFAC.
The State Department warned that foreign individuals, companies and financial institutions engaging in transactions with sanctioned entities or operating in designated sectors of the Cuban economy could themselves face sanctions exposure.