The United States Department of the Treasury announced this Thursday sanctions against Fidel Ernesto Castro Calis, grandson of former Cuban president Raúl Castro, as part of the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed on the island by Washington.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has included Castro on the “blacklist,” as well as several entities linked to state authorities, such as the Banco Exterior de Cuba (BEC), based in Havana, and Comercial Cupet, responsible for foreign trade operations of import and export of goods and services for the oil sector.
Likewise, Nicarotec, Abapet, and Cexni, Cuban state companies specialized in the management, logistics, and exploitation of key sectors of its economy, such as the technical and industrial services sector, technological equipment for energy infrastructure, and the import of raw materials or machinery for nickel and cobalt processing, have been sanctioned.
The U.S. Department of Justice charged the former Cuban president in May 2026 for the 1996 downing of two civilian planes in international waters belonging to the Cuban exile organization Brothers to the Rescue, an incident that resulted in the death of three Americans and one resident in the United States.
Castro was accused—along with Lorenzo Alberto Pérez-Pérez; Emilio José Palacio Blanco; José Fidel Gual Bárzaga; Raúl Simanca Cárdenas; and Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez—of one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, two counts of aircraft destruction, and four counts of homicide.
The latest package of sanctions comes in a context of an energy and trade blockade imposed by Washington against the Caribbean island earlier this year that has further worsened the crisis plaguing Cuba, a country that has suffered constant blackouts due to lack of electricity. U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum last week to extend the embargo for one more year, that is, until September 2027.
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