WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio slapped Cuba’s military regime and elites with sanctions, hours after a meeting with Pope Leo XIV, where the humanitarian crisis on the communist-run island was on the agenda.
Rubio said he was sanctioning a military-run economic group, known as GAESA, and its leader, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, using authority granted to him by President Donald Trump in a recently-issued executive order. He also sanctioned Moa Nickel SA, a joint venture that mines and sells Cuba’s nickel.
In a statement, Rubio said the sanctions “are part of the Trump Administration’s comprehensive campaign to address the pressing national security threats posed by Cuba’s communist regime and hold accountable the regime and those who provide it material or financial support.”
Sanctions: Trump hits Cuba with new punishing actions, singling out ties with Iran
Pope Leo XIV meets U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Vatican, May 7, 2026. Vatican Media/Simone Risoluti/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY
He indicated the punishing actions were just the beginning — with additional sanctions designations coming within days or weeks.
The sanctions are the latest attempt by the Trump administration to weaken the Cuban regime and force it to make economic and political changes that would make Havana more reliant on the U.S.
Since its attack on Venezuela at the start of the year, the U.S. has maintained a near-total oil blockade on Cuba, exacerbating the island’s energy crisis. Trump has alternatively floated an economic-focused agreement, which his administration hopes would lead to more freedoms, and military action that could make the Cuban government more pliant.
Trump signed an executive order on May 1 imposing new sanctions on individuals and entities that support Cuba’s government and security apparatus and are complicit in “government corruption or serious human rights violations.”
The order accused the Cuba government of maintaining close ties with state sponsors of terrorism, providing safe haven for Iranian proxy groups such as Hezbollah, denying free speech to its citizens and torturing and persecuting its political opponents.
Cuba was already considered a state sponsor of terror by the U.S. and under hefty sanctions and a restrictive trade embargo.
In a lengthy May 7 statement, Cuba’s ministry of foreign affairs denounced Trump’s executive order and the ensuing sanctions as a “ruthless act of economic aggression” that constitutes a “dangerous escalation” in the U.S. pressure campaign. The ministry said that it would cause further harm to the nation’s economy.
“We also reject the intention of the United States government to create a humanitarian crisis to justify more dangerous actions, including military aggression against Cuba,” the statement said. “In all international forums, Cuba will continue to denounce the blockade.”
This story has been updated to add new information.
Contributing: Joey Garrison
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rubio escalates pressure on Cuba’s military with new sanctions