HAVANA, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Thursday denounced Washington's increased sanctions against Cuban officials and entities, accusing the United States of deliberately seeking to strangle the island's economy and undermining the government's ability to provide basic services.
In a post on X, Rodriguez criticized U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his "failed obsession against Cuba" after the United States sanctioned senior officials of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), including ICAP President Fernando Gonzalez Llort, First Vice President Noemi Ramona Rabaza Fernandez and North America Director Leima Martinez Freire.
Rodriguez stressed that ICAP promotes "friendship, international solidarity, justice and peace," the very opposite of what Rubio has long promoted through his policies.
The expanded sanctions also targeted key entities in the metals and mining sectors, as well as companies involved in trade, imports and labor services that support the production, trade and supply of metallurgical goods, mining products and industrial equipment.
The new measures mark a broader escalation in Washington's policy against Havana since late January. Following U.S. military actions against Venezuela and Iran earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened that "Cuba is next," enforcing an oil blockade and intensifying a long-standing embargo to choke off the island nation's economic lifelines. ■