President Díaz-Canel, first lady among those targeted; sons and grandsons of Raúl Castro also listed; Donald Trump says goal is not regime collapse

People wait to fill containers with water from a tank truck in Havana, Cuba, on May 20. [AFP]
People wait to fill containers with water from a tank truck in Havana, Cuba, on May 20. [AFP]

The United States imposed additional sanctions targeting Cuba's top leadership and the family of Raúl Castro, the former president and brother of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.

The US Treasury Department announced Wednesday that it was adding Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, his wife Lis Cuesta, and members of Raúl Castro's family to its sanctions list.

The sanctions also cover sons and grandsons of the former president.

The Treasury Department did not disclose specific grounds for the designations, but the move is widely interpreted as an effort to intensify pressure on core figures of the Cuban government and the Castro family.

Raúl Castro has been indicted by the US Justice Department in connection with a 1996 incident in which the Cuban military shot down two civilian aircraft belonging to Brothers to the Rescue, a Cuban exile organization based in the United States, killing four people.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Donald Trump pushed back when asked whether the sanctions were aimed at toppling the Cuban government.

"No," Trump said. "We just want that country to be a well-run country that can feed its people."

He went on to sharply criticize Cuba's current economic conditions. "That country is starving, and they have no energy, no oil, no money," Trump said. "They have nothing."

The United States has maintained economic sanctions against Cuba for decades, and during his first term Trump reversed much of the Cuba normalization policy that the Barack Obama administration had pursued.


sjy@heraldcorp.com