Cuba sign. Photo: Bill Hackwell.
By Rosa Miriam Elizalde – Mar 13, 2025
Marco Rubio –Little Marco, as his boss in the White House calls him – is ignored by Trumpian diplomacy, nevertheless as a consolation prize he has been given the menial task of intensifying the attack on the island where his parents were born.
President Trump does not take him into account when negotiating with Netanyahu, Zelensky or Putin, but in less than a month the Secretary of State has managed to push through seven measures against Cuba that raise the collective punishment imposed by the US blockade to unbearable levels.
Usually announced on Friday afternoons, hardly anyone has noticed as they appear unconnected to each other, however they form a battering ram that is being fired like grenades at Cubans on the island and even at those who live outside it: Reinstatement of Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. This is the most severe measure of the financial siege against the island and is being applied without any real justification.
It significantly aggravates the effects of the economic and commercial blockade by dissuading banks and international institutions from operating with Cuba for fear of US sanctions. The reincorporation of this country on the list implies additional obstacles for importing basic necessities, receiving credits and accessing international financing.
Reinstatement of the list of restricted Cuban entities. The list of Cuban companies and entities with which the United States prohibits citizens and companies from that nation from carrying out any transactions has been reactivated and updated. This clearly extraterritorial measure seeks to impede trade and investment in key sectors of the Cuban economy. It especially affects tourism and financial transactions with third countries.
Reactivation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act. This allows US citizens (including Cubans naturalized in the US) to file lawsuits in US courts against foreign companies that invest in properties nationalized in Cuba after the 1959 Revolution. Such a measure seeks to prevent foreign investment and generate legal uncertainty for international companies interested in trading with Cuba.
Suspension of the license for transactions with Orbit SA. As part of the financial war, the Trump administration has suspended the license that allowed the Cuban company Orbit SA to receive remittances from the US. This directly affects thousands of Cuban families who depend on this income to cover basic needs. By cutting off one of the few sources of foreign currency, it seeks to further weaken the Cuban economy and create an internal social crisis.
Suspension of humanitarian parole and family reunification. Many of the more than 900,000 Cubans who have arrived in the US since October 2021 could be deported under the Trump administration’s new provisions. By tightening the blockade, Washington encouraged them to leave Cuba and immigrate to the US, and now it intends to deport them.
Suspension of visas for exchanges. In a clear attempt to weaken cultural and academic ties, the Trump administration has suspended visas for Cubans participating in cultural, academic and scientific exchanges in the US. No Cuban team, not even children’s teams, will be able to participate in regional or bilateral sports competitions on US territory.
Visa restrictions on collaborators of Cuban cooperation programs. In a particularly aggressive move, visa restrictions have been imposed on Cubans and foreigners linked to South-South cooperation programs in which Cuba participates, especially in the health sector.
This measure is part of the smear campaign against Cuban medical missions, affects Cuba’s ability to offer medical assistance in numerous countries and criminalizes third-country citizens involved in collaborative projects with Cuba.
In addition, the Trump administration has included Cuba on the list of “foreign adversaries,” along with Venezuela, Iran, Russia and China, thus limiting Cuban access to US technology, especially in artificial intelligence.
And it will get worse. The New York Times leaked this week that the Trump administration has drawn up a red list of countries whose citizens would be “categorically banned” from entering the US. Of course, the island is in this group, which also includes Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.
The monster, as the Austrian Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek would say, can be heard breathing.
