Donald Trump’s administration continues to threaten military force to dislodge the 67-year-old regime
Sweeping new U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba could chase
international companies off the island as Donald Trump’s administration
continues to threaten military force to dislodge the 67-year-old regime.
On Friday, Trump unveiled measures that would allow
Washington to target almost any non-U.S. citizen or entity involved in business
on the island. While specific targets are yet to be determined, the order says
it will focus on defense, mining, finance and security.
The sanctions raise questions for companies including
Turkey’s Karpowership — which runs an energy barge in Havana — and Canada’s
Sherritt International, which mines for nickel and cobalt in Cuba, said William
LeoGrande, a professor of government and a specialist in U.S.-Latin American
relations at American University in Washington.
Also under the latest sanctions, financial institutions
that have handled transactions with certain Cuban individuals and entities
could be cut out of the US banking system.
“These sanctions are incredibly, incredibly broad,”
LeoGrande said, adding that he expects the Trump administration to eventually
use the new economic weapon to “terrify” companies into quitting the island.
Karpowership and Sherritt didn’t respond to requests for
comment outside of business hours.
Hours after publishing the sanctions, Trump teased a
possible military intervention in Cuba in comments to an audience in Florida.
In what appeared to be a joke, he said that when the USS Abraham Lincoln
aircraft carrier returns from the war with Iran it could “stop about 100 yards
offshore” Cuba “and they’ll say ‘Thank you very much, we give up.’”
“We will be taking over almost immediately,” Trump claimed.
Trump’s administration has imposed a near-total fuel
blockade on the island since January as it presses for outright regime change.
Cuba has said that, although the two sides are negotiating, its form of
government and its leadership aren’t up for discussion.
On Saturday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel called the
new US military threats “dangerous and unprecedented.”
“The international community must take note and, together
with the people of the United States, determine whether such a drastic criminal
act will be allowed,” he wrote on X. “No aggressor, no matter how powerful,
will force Cuba to surrender.”
https://nationalpost.com/news/world/cubas-remaining-lifelines-in-peril-as-trump-widens-u-s-sanctions