People protest over power outages in Havana on Wednesday. Five years after the historic social uprising of July 11, 2021, Cuba is experiencing daily protests. Photo by Ernesto Mastrascusa/EPA
President Donald Trump’s administration expanded its economic campaign against the Cuban government Monday by sanctioning the Ministry of Tourism and nine other state and paramilitary entities.
It is a move aimed at restricting the Cuban state’s main sources of revenue and increasing pressure on organizations Washington accuses of participating in the repression of the population.
The State Department said the sanctions were imposed under an executive order signed in May that authorizes the U.S. government to block individuals and entities linked to repression in Cuba or to strategic sectors of the economy considered relevant to U.S. national security and foreign policy.
Today, @StateDept is designating ten entities to further the Trump Administration’s comprehensive push to end the Cuban regime’s malign activities, both in Cuba and across our hemisphere. These actions target interlocking pillars of that apparatus: state-owned entities that…— Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs (@WHAAsstSecty) July 13, 2026
Among the sanctioned entities is Cuba’s Ministry of Tourism, which regulates tourism activity on the island and is considered by Washington one of the Cuban government’s main revenue generators outside the military conglomerate Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., known as GAESA.
The list also includes Grupo Empresarial de Comercio Exterior, or GECOMEX; Grupo Empresarial de Transporte Marítimo Portuario, or GEMAR; Organización Superior de Dirección Empresarial Caudal S.A., or CAUDAL; and Corporación Antillana Exportadora S.A., or ANTEX.
State-owned companies Coreydan S.A. and Enetec S.A., which are linked to the energy sector, also are on the list.
At the same time, the United States sanctioned the Rapid Response Brigades, the Territorial Troops Militia and the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution. The State Department said those organizations are part of the apparatus used by the Cuban government to monitor, control and repress opponents and dissidents.
As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property of those entities that are in the United States or under the control of U.S. citizens or companies have been blocked.
In addition, individuals and companies subject to U.S. jurisdiction are prohibited from conducting transactions with them unless authorized by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The State Department also warned that foreign companies and financial institutions that maintain significant operations with sanctioned organizations could be exposed to U.S. sanctions.
The new measures deepen a strategy Washington has pursued since May to limit the Cuban government’s access to foreign currency generated by tourism, one of the island’s main sources of revenue.
Several major international hotel chains announced in recent weeks they were reducing or ending their operations at hotels linked to GAESA after the White House’s ultimatum to foreign companies managing assets associated with the Cuban military conglomerate.
Spain’s Meliá and Iberostar, Canada’s Blue Diamond and Asia’s Archipelago International withdrew or began to withdraw their brands from dozens of hotels operated in partnership with companies controlled by GAESA.
Economists interviewed by digital news outlet El Toque warned that those departures could worsen the crisis facing Cuba’s tourism industry, which never recovered visitor levels seen before the pandemic.
Ricardo Torres, an economics professor at American University in Washington, said tourism accounted for about 14% of Cuba’s exports and nearly 8% of the country’s gross domestic product in 2024 and 2025.
Torres also estimated the reduction in international operators could cause tourism revenue to decline by more than 60% this year.
According to data from Cuba’s National Office of Statistics and Information, the island received 328,608 international visitors between January and April, down 55.8% from the same period a year earlier.
The State Department said the measures are intended to target “the Cuban government’s sources of financing and tools of oppression” and reiterated that the United States will continue using “all available tools” to promote economic and political reforms on the island.
The new sanctions come as Cuba continues to face a deep economic and energy crisis.
On Sunday, Cuba’s Electric Union said it had restored the National Electric System after another nationwide blackout, the second in less than a week.
The state-owned utility said reconnecting the grid took more than 24 hours and was hampered by fuel shortages.
