Cuba has said that US President Donald Trump's fresh sanctions on the island amounted to "collective punishment", as a procession outside the American embassy in Havana vowed to "defend the homeland".
In an executive order on Friday, the US leader said he would impose sanctions on people involved in sweeping sectors of the Cuban economy that the government controls.
The latest sanctions constitute "collective punishment" of the nation's people, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said.
"We firmly reject the recent unilateral coercive measures adopted by the United States government," he posted on X.
"These actions demonstrate an intention to impose, once again, collective punishment on the Cuban people."
In a Spanish-language statement, he called the sanctions "illegal" and "abusive".
Trump's order said the measures target people known to "operate in or have operated in the energy, defence and related materiel, metals and mining, financial services, or security sector of the Cuban economy, or any other sector of the Cuban economy", as well as Cuban officials judged to have engaged in "serious human rights abuses" or corruption.
Already in the throes of economic stagnation, the situation worsened for Cuba following a fuel blockade imposed by Washington in January, with only one Russian oil tanker making it through since then.
Supply shortages and power cuts have become the norm, and tourism, once Cuba's most lucrative industry, has plummeted.
The sanctions come despite moves toward dialogue between the two countries, with senior US officials visiting the island for talks in April.
Friday's fresh measures saw huge crowds in Havana march to the US embassy under the slogan "Defend the Homeland".
The march was led by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and former leader Raul Castro.
The day before, Diaz-Canel had called on Cubans to mobilise "against the genocidal blockade and the crude imperial threats to our country", referring to US actions and rhetoric.
During the rally, authorities claimed to have collected more than six million signatures from Cubans "for the homeland and for peace" over the past six weeks.
Meanwhile, Trump again threatened that the US would take over Cuba "almost immediately", suggesting a US aircraft carrier could be deployed offshore to force the island nation into submission.
"Cuba, which we will be taking over almost immediately," Trump said at an event in Florida, claiming that "Cubans got problems."
Trump indicated the move would follow the US-Israeli war on Iran, saying Washington would deploy a naval vessel on the return.
"On the way back from Iran, we'll have one of our big ones, maybe the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the biggest in the world; we'll have that come in and stop about 100 yards offshore," he said.
He further suggested the show of force alone would make Cuba surrender, as he claimed: “They'll say, Thank you very much. We give up," adding: "I like to finish a job."
