UMVA has learned that the Trump administration is launching a groundbreaking expansion of U.S. sanctions on Cuba, a move experts describe as the most significant in decades.
This bold new framework, established under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on May 1, aims to apply pressure beyond U.S. companies for the first time, threatening foreign firms with sanctions exposure if they continue operating in key sectors of the Cuban economy linked to Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., or GAESA.
Supporters of the move say it closes a loophole that allowed foreign investors to sustain Cuba's communist regime while the longstanding U.S. embargo largely restricted Americans. Critics, however, argue that the measures risk worsening an already severe humanitarian crisis on the island without meaningfully weakening the government.
"At the top of the month, what the Trump administration did was for the first time extend the application of U.S. sanctions from just prohibiting trade between U.S. firms and U.S. persons and the Cuban island to third-party countries and enablers," said a former Treasury Department official.
The sanctions focus heavily on GAESA, a sprawling military-linked conglomerate that analysts estimate controls between 40% and 70% of Cuba's economy, including tourism, mining, retail, ports, and financial services. A recent report argued that foreign companies doing business in Cuba are effectively helping sustain the regime's military and political leadership.
The State Department sanctioned GAESA and several affiliated entities in May under the new authorities, opening the door for potential penalties against foreign companies and financial institutions that continue dealings with them after a June 5 wind-down deadline.
Critics of the policy warn that the economic fallout could land the hardest on ordinary Cubans. A longtime Cuba expert said the May 1 measures represent a major escalation because they specifically target foreign businesses rather than just Americans and aim to deter foreign companies from doing business with GAESA by threatening sanctions exposure.
The debate comes as Cuba faces its deepest economic and humanitarian crisis in years. The World Food Programme says food insecurity is worsening amid fuel shortages, inflation, and declining access to imported goods, while U.N. officials have warned that electricity shortages and blackouts are disrupting hospitals, vaccination programs, and food distribution networks across the island.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that the situation on the ground is dire, with many experts warning that tougher sanctions could contribute to another migration crisis. A U.S. official rejected arguments that American sanctions are responsible for Cuba's humanitarian crisis, saying the suffering of the Cuban people is not caused by the U.S. embargo but by the Cuban dictatorship's failed Communist policies and human rights violations.
The official added that U.S. law explicitly permits exports of food, medicine, and medical equipment to Cuba and accused the regime of hiding "billions in overseas bank accounts instead of investing in electricity, infrastructure, and the daily needs of its people."
