By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Monday imposed sanctions on 11 Cuban officials, including the country’s communications minister and several military leaders, and its main intelligence agency, as the Trump administration ratchets up pressure on the island’s communist leaders.
The designations are part of a broader campaign against Cuba that includes efforts to block most oil shipments from Venezuela, following the U.S. raid to seize its leader in January.
The administration has described Cuba’s current communist-run government as corrupt and incompetent and is pushing for a regime change.
President Donald Trump has heaped pressure on the island, effectively imposing a blockade by threatening sanctions on countries supplying it with fuel, igniting power outages and delivering blows to its economy.
“For more than 60 years, the Cuban regime has prioritized its Communist ideology and personal wealth over the well-being of its own citizens while allowing for the exploitation of Cuba for foreign intelligence, military, and terror operations,” the State Department said in a statement. “The United States will continue to take action to counter the Cuban regime, those furthering its goals, and those abroad enabling the elites to profit while the Cuban people suffer.”
Following is a list of some of the most senior officials targeted on Monday by the U.S. Treasury and State Departments:
• Mayra Arevich Marin, a member of the Communist Party Central Committee who has served as minister of communications since April 2021.
• Juan Esteban Lazo Hernandez, president of the Cuban National Assembly and a longtime Communist party official and member of the Politburo.
• Roberto Tomas Morales Ojeda, a senior Communist Party leader, who previously served as minister of public health and vice president.
• Joaquin Quintas Sola, a general in the Cuban Army and vice minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
• Raul Villar Kessel, a senior Cuban military officer.
• A number of other lower-level figures were also designated.
• Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also designated the Directorate of Intelligence of Cuba, or DI, which is the main state intelligence service of the Cuban government.
• The State Department designated Cuba’s interior ministry and the Policia Nacional Revolucionaria (PNR), a police force accused of operating mobile prisons and suppressing protests.
• The sanctions follow an initial spate announced in early May.
• Trump on May 1 signed an executive order that provides broad authority to designate parties in Cuba’s key economic sectors and authorizes secondary sanctions against foreign financial institutions that deal with sanctioned parties.
• The Trump administration plans to announce criminal charges against former Cuban president Raul Castro on Wednesday, a Justice Department official said last week.
• State Department said additional sanctions were expected in the coming days and weeks.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Katharine Jackson , editing by Michelle Nichols and Sanjeev Miglani)
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