US raises pressure on Cuba as it sanctions President Diaz-Canel 

The United States has imposed sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the latest of numerous measures adopted against the communist-led island.

The sanctions, revealed on Thursday on the US Treasury’s website, are part of Washington’s efforts to raise pressure on Cuba’s leadership. An energy blockade enforced by the US Navy has provoked critical blackouts and food shortages.

The new sanctions also take aim at the president’s wife and stepson, as well as the son and a grandson of former president Raul Castro, brother of Cuba’s former leader Fidel Castro, for whom the US issued an arrest warrant last month.

The Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces has also been targeted, along with the Cuban military and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), which is tasked with monitoring counter-revolutionary activity.

Washington claims that Cuba’s communist regime threatens US security. President Donald Trump has been threatening to take military action against the island since abducting Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January, as he raises efforts to push left-wing governments out of the Americas, which he insists is crucial for US interests.

“We’ll take care of the Islamic republic of Iran, and as soon as that’s done, on our way back, we’ll just make a little brief stopover,” Trump said on Thursday, alluding to Cuba.

Diaz-Canel accused Trump of trying to “strengthen the blockade and scenario of conflict between Cuba and the United States”.

“This political blindness is added to the coercive measures applied in recent weeks against our country, designed to harm the Cuban people. The aggressiveness and perversity of the Yankee government will clash with our determination to confront the worst scenarios and resist the imperialist onslaught,” the Cuban leader wrote on social media.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called the sanctions “vile” and described them as the latest example of US interventionism.

“Every threat against the independence and sovereignty of Cuba will be met with an even greater unity and resolve from our people,” he wrote.

Cuba has been under a US trade embargo since 1962, but Trump has significantly ramped up pressure.

Cuba has been without diesel for generators since January, resulting in power outages of up to 22 hours a day and water shortages.

Moreover, the island is running short on food and medicine, and has become dependent on aid shipments from Mexico and China.

Trump denied that the new sanctions were aimed at speeding up Cuba’s collapse.

“We just want them to be a nicely run country,” he said, before adding that “country is starving, and it’s got no energy, it’s got no oil, it’s got no money, it’s got nothing”.

Asked if the island is close to collapse, he said: “It’s sort of collapsed,” adding “we’re going to handle that as soon as we’ve finished” the Iran war“.

The US announced criminal charges against Castro for allegedly shooting down two small planes that were operated by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue in 1996.