US sanctions Cuban oil shippers, tankers and electronics suppliers
Treasury adds two Cuban nationals, six companies in Cuba, China and Panama, and two tankers to its blocked list, and opens four Cuban sectors to penalties.
The US Treasury added two Cuban nationals, six companies and two Cuba-flagged tankers to its sanctions list on Thursday, widening measures on the island's oil, shipping and electronics trade to firms registered in China and Panama.
Reuters reported that the action, announced on 5 November, takes aim at sectors of the Cuban economy rather than only at named individuals. The Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Treasury unit that runs US sanctions, published the listings.
According to The Rio Times, which reported the designations in detail, the two individuals are Guillermo Faustino Rodríguez López-Calleja of Havana and Any Rodríguez Lastres, who has an address in Panama City. OFAC links Rodríguez Lastres to Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, listed on 7 May, without explaining the connection; the newspaper said it had not confirmed that tie.
Four of the six companies are Cuban: Tecnosime, a state firm that supports oil and gas extraction; Cubaelectrónica, a state wholesaler of machinery and equipment; and the sea-freight lines Internacional Marítima and Petromarca. The others are Beijing H&C Technologies, a Chinese state-owned wholesaler of electronics and telecoms equipment, and Tentacool Commercial, a freight company registered in Panama.
Two tankers were added. Emilia, a gas tanker built in 2002, is linked to Petromarca; Gloria C, a chemical and fuel tanker built in 2010, is linked to Caroil Transport Marine, a Cyprus-registered shipper with an office in Havana. OFAC also listed Caroil itself and three tankers already designated over Venezuelan oil under its Cuba programme: Maria Cristina, Esperanza and Lourdes.
OFAC published a determination covering what it called the "Electronics, Manufacturing, Marine, and Technology Sectors of the Cuban Economy", issued under Executive Order 14404, which President Donald Trump signed on 1 May to punish those responsible for repression in Cuba and for threats to US national security. The Rio Times said it had not read the full text, leaving the terms and any wind-down period unconfirmed.
Sanctions freeze any US property of listed parties and bar Americans from dealing with them. For a ship, that means fewer ports, insurers and banks willing to handle it. Havana, Beijing, Panama and the companies had not commented, The Rio Times reported.
Earlier rounds listed Lastres Morera on 7 May and the state oil company Unión Cuba-Petróleo, or CUPET, on 11 June, moving the measures down the supply chain from the oil company to shippers and suppliers.
How the reports differ
Reuters led on the reach of the action, reporting that Washington was taking aim at sectors of the Cuban economy. The Rio Times led on the vessels and the named parties, and was alone in giving the identities of the two tankers, the Chinese and Panamanian companies on the list, and the earlier listings of Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera and the state oil company CUPET. It also reported that it had not read the full text of the new sector determination or the State Department fact sheet that accompanied the action, and that Havana, Beijing, Panama and the companies had made no comment.
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