Miami's Cuban American community praises new sanctions Sec. Rubio announced against Cuba
The United States announced additional sanctions against Cuba, a move leaders in Miami's Cuban American community said is a step in the right direction.
The sanctions, announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio while he was in the Vatican, target a massive business conglomerate controlled by the Cuban military, as well as a state-owned natural resource company.
Orlando Gutierrez Boronat, an activist with the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, learned of the sanctions while in the nation's capital for a foreign policy summit. He expressed support for the measure.
"We feel these sanctions are at the right moment, at the right targets, they are striking the core of the repressive dictatorship that has turned Cuba into hell on earth," Gutierrez Boronat said.
The sanctions come as people living on the island nation are dealing with limited resources and are "living in the dark".
The Cuban government responded in a statement read aloud on Cuba TV, accusing the U.S. of staging a humanitarian crisis to justify military intervention. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on X that the new sanctions are "aimed at causing the greatest possible harm to the Cuban population and families".
Gutierrez Boronat disagreed, saying, "I think these sanctions are aimed at weakening, debilitating the elite that govern Cuba. And these sanctions don't affect the Cuban people".
The new measures follow remarks from President Trump last week, where he suggested there would be military intervention.
"Cuba, which we will be taking over almost immediately, on the way back from Iran, maybe the U.S. Abraham Lincoln, the biggest in the world, we will have that come in, stop about 100 yards offshore, and they will say thank you very much, we give up," Trump said.
However, sources told The Associated Press that imminent U.S. military action against Havana is not likely. The sanctions directly build on an executive order signed by President Trump last week.