The U.S. government announced yesterday, Tuesday, that it was tightening the sanctions it has imposed on Cuba, with new restrictions specifically targeting financial transactions involving the Caribbean island under communist rule, including its growing private sector.
The sanctions, updated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury, prohibit any financial transaction, even “indirect” ones, with sanctioned Cuban entities, particularly those linked to the security apparatus and GAESA, the military-run conglomerate.
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OFAC is thus revoking an authorization that, since 2024, had allowed U.S. banks to process dollar-denominated payments involving Cuba when the origin and destinationorigin were outside the U.S. and did not involve any U.S. citizen (“U-Turn transactions”).
Furthermore, the new regulations repeal an authorization that allowed U.S. banks to open and maintain “accounts in the name of a Cuban national who is an independent private-sector entrepreneur.”
Access to the U.S. banking system for Cuban entrepreneurs was approved in 2024, during the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden (2021–2025) as part of measures to support the private sector on the Caribbean island.
“The new exclusionary measures are intended to hinder the ongoing process of economic transformation,” commented Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, referring to the broad reform program toward a so-called market economy that Havana began implementing in June.
The administration of U.S. President Trump is thus attacking “openly targeting both the public and private sectors, even though some U.S. officials assure that they want to help foster” private enterprise in China, the Foreign Ministry added.
For O’Neill Diaz, a private-sector consultant in Cuba, “this measure raises additional obstacles to the success” of the private sector, as it “rules out any possibility of a banking relationship—even the most minimal one—with the U.S.”
The expert expresses concern that, due to the tightening of measures, “non-U.S. banks” will make their own procedures stricter, which would create further “difficulties for the private sector in processing payments for overseas purchases, on which the entire process of importing basic foodstuffs and fuel depends.”
Washington’s policy of maximum pressure against Havana coincides with an unprecedented surge in imports from the U.S., driven by the private sector and continuing to grow.
According to data from U.S. authorities, Cuba imported $149 million worth of goods in July, the highest amount since 1992. Between January and July of that year, imports had reached $674 million—an amount equal to the total value of Cuban imports in 2025.
The new regulations announced by OFAC yesterday further reduce the categories of permitted travel to Cuba during Barack Obama’s presidency (2009–2017) for Americans. Cultural exchange trips known as “people-to-people” and conferences or meetings for professional purposes are now subject to government approval.
Following the return to power of Republican billionaire Trump in 2025, the already strained relationship between Washington and Havana has taken a turn for the worse.
The U.S. president maintains that Cuba, 150 kilometers off the coast of Florida, poses an “extreme threat” to U.S. “national security” and has repeatedly threatened that “take” control of the island.
Washington, which makes no secret of its desire to see regime change in its neighbor and ideological enemy, has been imposing a de facto oil embargo on the island of 9.4 million residents since January, plunging it into an even more severe economic and energy crisis.
Source: Proto Thema
