US hits Cuba with new sanctions as island’s crises multiply

HAVANA (AP) — The United States government on Thursday slapped new sanctions on Cuba in a fresh push to strangle the island’s economy and deepen its multiple crises.

Among those hit with sanctions are Fidel Ernesto Castro, grandson of former President Raúl Castro, and Cuba’s Oil Industry Supply Import Company, known as Abapet.

The company is responsible for importing special equipment and spare parts needed to sustain Cuba’s crumbling power grid.

The sanctions aim to push Cuba’s critical machinery offline and exacerbate its energy crisis, said Brett Erickson, a sanctions expert and managing principal at Obsidian Risk Advisors, a consulting firm.

“The US is trying to really tighten the screws as much as possible,” he said.

“The Trump administration seems to have no seriousness to accept any change from Cuba other than a toppling of regime. Marco is not going to let that go,” he added, referring to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Erickson anticipated that Cuba’s government would try to circumvent the sanctions “because they have to.”

“They’ll get creative in how they try to procure these maintenance parts,” he said, warning it would be a costlier alternative, which in turn would raise inflation and further hurt Cuba’s economy.

Islandwide blackouts have become increasingly common, while daily outages in Cuba now surpass 24 hours as the aging grid fails and fuel reserves dwindle ever since US President Donald Trump in late January threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to the island.

“The goal in theory is to create so much civilian hardship and suffering that they have no option but to essentially rise up and topple their government,” Erickson said. “It is an attempt to cause a humanitarian crisis.”

Talks earlier this year between the US and Cuba have since halted, while sanctions have increased in recent months.

Erickson said he expects the US to keep targeting smaller and smaller state companies to try and push them “into a death spiral.” The US has previously sanctioned entities including Cuba’s state-owned oil and gas company.

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