US sanctions Cuba’s state oil company

Washington: 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.

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.

“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 kleptocracy,” Rubio said in a statement.

The 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.

Rubio accused Cuba’s leaders of “reselling countless barrels of scarce energy on the secondary market, hoarding energy supplies for its military, intelligence and repressive forces, and rationing energy as a tool of social control.”

“As regular Cubans wait for weeks to fill their cars and suffer relentless blackouts, the Castro family flies around on a private jet, the government buses in fake protesters for publicity stunts, and the regime prioritizes keeping the power on in luxury tourist hotels,” he said.

According to the State Department, CUPET is being designated under Section 2(a)(i)(A) of Executive Order 14404 for operating in the energy sector of the Cuban economy. Rubio said key assets of the company had been “unlawfully expropriated from American owners years ago.”

“The Trump Administration will continue to target Cuba’s ability to leverage energy trade to further its corrupt agenda and repressive security apparatus,” he said.

The sanctions are part of a broader US effort under Executive Orders 14404 and 14380, as well as National Security Presidential Memorandum-5, which the administration says are aimed at improving human rights, encouraging the rule of law, fostering free markets and promoting democracy in Cuba.

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.

The department said non-US persons should exercise caution when dealing with parties sanctioned under the new authority. It added that transferring or returning assets to sanctioned entities could expose foreign parties to “significant sanctions risk.”

“The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior,” the State Department said in outlining the sanctions framework.

The United States has maintained various economic sanctions on Cuba for more than six decades, making it one of the longest-running sanctions regimes in modern history. Successive US administrations have adjusted restrictions and engagement policies, but core sanctions have largely remained in place.

IANS