The US has sanctioned some of Cuba's top leaders, generals and intelligence officials, targeting the island's justice, energy and communications ministers along with its primary spy agency in a major escalation of pressure on Havana.
"These sanctions advance the Trump Administration's comprehensive campaign to address the pressing national security threats posed by Cuba's communist regime and to hold accountable both the regime and those who provide it material support," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Monday.
The statement said "regime-aligned actors" are responsible for the suffering of the Cuban people and the country's declining economy.
Among those sanctioned were Justice Minister Rosabel Gamon Verde, Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy, Communications Minister Mayra Arevich Marin and Juan Esteban Lazo Hernandez, president of the National Assembly.
The designations also cover the Directorate of Intelligence of Cuba (DGI) — the regime's primary intelligence agency — along with its chiefs, three senior military commanders and a top Communist Party Central Committee official.
Besides the DGI, the other entities designated were the Ministry of Interior (MININT), which oversees Cuba's police, internal security forces and prison system, and the National Revolutionary Police (PNR), accused of operating mobile prisons and violently suppressing protests.
'Cuba poses no threat'
Earlier Monday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned that his country has the "absolute and legitimate right" to defend itself against US military actions, warning that any attack on the island would result in a "bloodbath with incalculable consequences."
He said Cuba "poses no threat, nor does it have any aggressive plans or intentions against any country," including the US.
"Cuba, which already endures a multidimensional aggression from the US, does have the absolute and legitimate right to defend itself against a military onslaught. Yet that cannot be wielded, either logically or honestly, as an excuse for imposing war on the noble Cuban people."
The remarks came hours after the US-based news outlet Axios, citing unverified classified US intelligence assessments, reported that Cuba had allegedly acquired more than 300 military drones and discussed possible plans to use them against American targets, including the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, US military vessels, and possibly Key West, Florida.
Cuba is facing a severe humanitarian and energy crisis, exacerbated by the US oil blockade.
The Cuban government has accused Washington of trying to create a pretext for a military intervention against its arch foe after first trying to "strangle" Cuba's economy with a crippling fuel blockade.
