Miami/Miami-Dade County revoked the local tax license of the company Vanguard Energy, which intended to export 250,000 barrels of fuel to Cuba, following the sanctions announced this Thursday by the United States Department of State against Unión Cuba-Petróleo (Cupet), the island’s state company.
Miami-Dade Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez announced that he revoked the company, based in the Miami metropolitan area, of its Local Business Tax Receipt, a license required to do business in the county, for its “proposed shipments of fuel to the murderous Cuban socialist communist dictatorship.”
“Miami-Dade County will not serve as a base of operations for activities that undermine federal law or support the Cuban dictatorship,” Fernández stated in his notice.
Revocation occurs after reports of the Miami Herald and Bloombergwhich on Wednesday reported that Vanguard Energy, based in Coral Gables, was in “advanced” negotiations to send 100,000 barrels of gasoline and 150,000 barrels of diesel to Cuba “every month or 40 days,” which would cover 11 days of demand.
“We are on the side of the rule of law, the Cuban people and the efforts of President Trump and Secretary Rubio”
This export, which would have occurred in the midst of the oil blockade imposed by President Donald Trump on the island, would have been the largest since the embargo existed.
The company, which until now has not responded to EFE’s queries, explained to the Miami Herald which signed a contract with a Cuban import agency last month to rent properties owned by the government company Cupet to store fuel.
But a State Department spokesperson told EFE on Wednesday that “Vanguard Energy has not received any license from the United States for this transaction,” and Washington included this Thursday Cupet in the list the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury.
In this context, the Miami-Dade tax collector justified his measure because “the reported Vanguard Energy transaction involves the Cuban state oil company Cupet, which is sanctioned by the United States.”
“Vanguard Energy has not received any US license for this transaction”
“We are on the side of the rule of law, of the Cuban people and of the efforts of President Trump and Secretary Rubio to deny the regime the resources it uses to control and repress its own people,” said Fernández.
The sanctions announced this Thursday by Rubio imply the prohibition of carrying out financial and commercial transactions with designated persons and entities, whose assets under US jurisdiction are blocked.
The fact comes amid the growing tension due to the United States oil blockade of Cuba, which has suffered a serious energy crisis since mid-2024, aggravated as of January by the US oil siege, since the Island requires about 100,000 barrels of oil per day.
