US pummels Cuban economy with new sanctions on mining, construction

The United States has announced another round of economic sanctions against Cuba , this time targeting nine state-owned mining, metal and construction companies.

A notice posted on the US Treasury Department’s website on Thursday showed Cuba’s Ministry of Construction of Cuba among the sanctioned entities, as well as government-controlled import companies.

Enterprises that extract and trade the island’s minerals, like the mining group GEOMINSAL, were also on the list. Cuba holds significant deposits of cobalt and nickel.

In addition to the nine entities, three leaders at the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), a state organisation designed to foster international relations, were sanctioned as well.

The administration of US President Donald Trump portrayed the targeted individuals and groups as national security threats in an accompanying statement, written by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio, a longtime proponent of government change in Cuba, accused the mining and construction companies of helping to “sustain the regime’s repressive apparatus”.

He also blasted ICAP for allegedly organising a “subversive network” of “international sympathisers” to help Cuba’s government.

“The Trump Administration will not stand by while a hostile foreign power seeks to exploit our freedoms — none of which are afforded to its people — by misleading and corrupting American citizens with lies, spy tradecraft, and other malfeasance,” Rubio wrote.