US sanctions Cuban Prez Miguel Diaz-Canel, widening pressure on leadership

The United States has imposed sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, along with his wife and three other individuals, according to a filing from the US Treasury Department. It's the latest Trump administration move to pressure the island's leadership.

Included in the sanctions are Alejandro Castro Espin, the sole son of former President Raul Castro and Vilma Espin. He served as an adviser to Cuba's Defense and National Security Commission and was present when Raul Castro greeted then-US President Barack Obama in Havana during a historic March 2016 meeting. Castro Espin's son, Raul Alejandro Castro Calis, was also listed.

The sanctions come after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order expanding sanctions against the island and has been threatening military action ever since ousting Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January and then ordering an energy blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba. That has led to severe blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse across the island.

The threats took on new weight after the U.S. announced criminal charges against Raul Castro. The new sanctions freeze individuals' property and bank accounts in the US, though it's unclear how intertwined their finances are with the US financial system.

Asked Thursday if his sanctions were meant to accelerate Cuba's collapse, Trump said, "We just want them to be a nicely run country."  "The country is starving and it's got no energy, it's got no oil, it's got no money, it's got nothing. It's got a beautiful piece of land. You could have beautiful resorts," Trump told reporters at an unrelated event in the Oval Office.

Asked whether Cuba is close to collapsing, he said, "It's sort of collapsed," and added that "we're going to handle that as soon as we've finished" military operations in Iran.

"I like to do one thing at a time," Trump said.

Trump has ratcheted up talk of regime change in Cuba after pledging to conduct a "friendly takeover" of the country if its leadership did not open its economy to American investment and kick out US adversaries.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who has long taken a hard-line against Cuba's socialist leadership, has said Trump's preference is to reach a deal with the island's leadership but has said he is doubtful the US can reach a diplomatic resolution with the current government.

Those "designated today direct or fund the regime and its efforts to mobilize its radical revolutionary movements in the United States and around the world," Rubio said in a statement.

Rubio has defended the Trump administration's decision to slap escalating sanctions on Havana, the largest of which is against Grupo de Administracion Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Diaz-Canel was handpicked in 2018 to succeed Raul Castro. He was the first person in decades to lead Cuba without bearing the name Castro.

Under him, the island plunged into the worst economic and energy crisis in recent history, a situation worsened by heightened sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.

Diaz-Canel had promised to modernize Cuba's social and economic model, but the island remains mired in crises.

Prior to becoming president, Diaz-Canel served as Minister of Higher Education and as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba.

His wife, Lis Cuesta Peraza, also appeared on the sanctions list. She does not hold the title of first lady, a title abolished in Cuba during the revolution, but in practice she acts as such, receiving other spouses such as Queen Letizia of Spain and accompanying her husband on official trips. She worked as an official in the Ministry of Culture.

Her son Miguel Anido Cuesta, who is Diaz-Canel's stepson, also faces sanctions.

Cuban authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The new sanctions boost pressure on the Cuban government, but are far from the first time the US has imposed sanctions against heads of state or government and their relatives.

The US hit former Sudanese President Omar Bashir and former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the early 2000s and, more recently, targeted Maduro and his wife with sanctions.