WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Trump administration has stepped up its unjust economic campaign against Cuba. On May 7, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced broad new sanctions aimed at the island’s largest military-run business group.

Cuba’s government condemned the new sanctions as an act of genocide, and its foreign minister warned that it could put the U.S. on a path toward a violent conflict.

Secretary Rubio’s announcement followed the State Department’s decision to send staff to U.S. Southern Command in Miami, preparing for possible conflict with Cuba. This move added military backing to the foreign minister’s warning about a dangerous path.

He said the new sanctions target two Cuban business groups and a top executive, as part of the Trump administration’s push for regime change. The targets include GAESA, a military-run company that controls much of Cuba’s economy; its leader, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera; and Moa Nickel S.A., which runs the metals and mining sector. 

The sanctions were imposed under Executive Order 14404, signed by President Trump on May 1. They target people and groups that support Cuba’s government and security forces. Secretary warned that more sanctions were likely.

These unjust and crippling sanctions have a wide impact. U.S. citizens, businesses, and banks are now banned from doing business with GAESA. Foreign companies or individuals who work with GAESA could also face penalties, such as losing access to the U.S. financial system.

In a recent interview with ABC News in Havana, Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla delivered Havana’s sharpest warning yet.

Mr. Rodríguez warned that the U.S. is on a “dangerous path” that could lead to a “bloodbath in Cuba,” and said he takes President Trump’s threats “very seriously,” adding that Cuba will “exercise its right for its legitimate defense” if attacked militarily.

Mr. Rodríguez was direct about negotiations. He said there has been “no progress” in talks with the U.S., and that Cuba’s political system or internal matters are “not on the table.” He also said using accusations against Cuba to justify military action is “forbidden by international law.”

Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the May 1, 2026, Executive Order, calling it a measure that “intensifies, to extreme and unprecedented levels, the economic, financial and commercial blockade against Cuba.”

The Ministry described the Treasury Department’s actions as “a ruthless act of economic aggression” that could lead to penalties for foreign companies and banks worldwide, even if they have no ties to U.S.-Cuba trade.

Mr. Rodríguez called the U.S. action “a collective punishment of a genocidal nature that condemns the entire nation and uses it as a hostage for purposes of domination.”

Washington’s press releases on its sanctions fail to show the harsh daily life of Cuba’s nearly 11 million people, who are already struggling under the weight of U.S. sanctions. In March 2026, the island’s power grid failed, leaving almost everyone without electricity for more than a day.

The country faces a growing humanitarian crisis, with limited access to food, water, and medicine. The average state salary is less than $13 a month. A carton of 30 eggs costs over 3,000 pesos, which is about a week’s pay. Medicines are in short supply at state pharmacies, forcing people to buy them on the black market.

Meanwhile, the suffering people face is very real.

Maria Elena Rodríguez, a retired teacher from Pinar del Río in western Cuba, told The New Humanitarian by phone that she has never faced such hardship. “Nothing compares to what we are living today,” she said.

She is now used to skipping at least one meal per day: “Sometimes I just don’t want to cook with coal. I am an asthmatic, and the smoke is very bad for me. Sometimes, I don’t have anything to eat, and the scarce food I find gets rotten after several hours without refrigeration.”

For many Cubans, leaving the country seems like the only option. Between 2021 and 2025, more than one million people left the island, and some say the real number is even higher. Many families now rely on money sent by relatives and friends abroad to buy food and medicine and to support small informal businesses.

Since January 2026, the U.S. has put in place more than 240 sanctions and stopped at least seven tankers, cutting Cuba’s energy imports by 80 to 90%. The effects were felt right away.

The Canadian mining company Sherritt International suspended all operations in Cuba following the new sanctions, leaving the island without its largest mining partner and 10 to 15% of its electricity supply.

A United Nations Special Rapporteur who recently visited Cuba urged the U.S. to lift its sanctions. The rapporteur noted that this is “the longest-running unilateral sanctions policy in U.S. foreign relations” and said it has hurt Cuban society, even though most countries oppose it.