Madrid/The State Department gave names and surnames this Thursday to new sanctioned by the United States within the Cuban regime. They are the all-powerful Business Administration Group (Gaesa); its president, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, and the state company associated with the Canadian Sherritt International that operates in the Holguín mines, Moa Nickel SA
In a statement, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubioexplains that he designated these “subjects” by virtue of the executive order signed by the president, Donald Trump, last May 1which determined to impose sanctions “on those responsible for the repression in Cuba and the threats to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
The military conglomerate Gaesa is on the list, the document reads, “for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Cuban economy” and its president, “for being or having been a leader, official, main executive officer or member of the board of directors of Gaesa.” As for Moa Nickel, he is sanctioned “for operating or having operated in the metallurgical and mining sector of the Cuban economy.”
This same Thursday, and precisely using Trump’s order of May 1, the international partner of the Cuban state mining company, Sherritt, announced the suspension of its activities on the Island and the immediate repatriation of its employees, including the Cubans who have employees in Canada.
It is in this framework that the stampede of the Canadian Sherritt from the nickel mines in Moa is explained
The sanctions imply, Rubio explained, that “all properties and interests” of those designated “are blocked” and “must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) of the Department of the Treasury.” Any entity or individual, the statement continues, “that is owned, directly or indirectly, 50% or more by them or with other blocked persons, are also blocked.”
Transactions by Americans, within the country or even in transit, that involve any property or interest of those sanctioned are also prohibited, unless, it points out, it is authorized by an Ofac license.
Likewise, it is warned that “foreign persons who participate in transactions with designated persons” or “who operate in the sectors of energy, defense and related materials, metallurgical and mining, financial services, or the security sector of the Cuban economy” risk being “subject to sanctions.” It is in this framework that the stampede of the Canadian Sherritt from the nickel mines in Moa is explained.
The regime has reacted immediately to the new sanctions through the usual means, the Foreign Minister’s X account, Bruno Rodriguez. “With the additional measures of collective punishment announced today against Cuba, the US government confirms its genocidal intention against the Cuban nation and clears up all doubt about the falsity of its pretexts to attack our country,” said the chancellor, without mentioning by name any of those sanctioned, but attaching an image of the Holguín exploitation.
