US Sanctions Cuban Nickel Firms and Military Officers
Cuba · Sanctions
Key Facts
—The action. The United States sanctioned 11 Cuban targets linked to nickel and the military on Thursday 17 September.
—The targets. Secretary of State Marco Rubio listed four state nickel companies, four military research firms and three officers.
—The effect. Their assets under US jurisdiction are frozen, and Americans may not do business with them.
—The stated reason. Washington says the firms belong to a system that enriches Cuba’s elite while ordinary Cubans suffer.
—A neighbour’s verdict. Costa Rica’s foreign minister called Cuba’s government a vile tyranny on Saturday 19 September.
—The backdrop. Cuba is living through blackouts and shortages, and nickel is one of its few hard-currency exports.
The United States has tightened the screws on the two pillars of Cuba’s state economy, its nickel mines and its military. On Thursday 17 September Washington sanctioned 11 Cuban targets, from state mining companies to senior officers.
Two days later Costa Rica, which broke off relations with Havana in March, called the island’s government a vile tyranny. Together the moves show Cuba’s isolation deepening in its own region as well as in Washington.
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What Washington Did
Rubio said the package covered four state companies tied to nickel reserves and four military research firms, including developers of weapons systems. Three military officers complete the list, Reuters reported.
The targets were added to the Specially Designated Nationals list kept by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Any assets they hold under US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons may not deal with them.
The exile news site CiberCuba named four nickel-sector entities: the supplier SERCONI, engineers CEPRONIQUEL, the research centre CEDINIQ and the geologists PINARES. The trade outlet ChemNet gave a partly different list, and no official list has been found.
The designations rest on an executive order President Donald Trump signed in May 2026. It widened the grounds for sanctioning people and companies that do business in Cuba.
Why Nickel Matters
Nickel is one of Cuba’s few large sources of foreign currency, alongside tourism and remittances. Its mines around Moa, in the eastern province of Holguín, have long been the island’s main industrial export.
In May Washington had already sanctioned GAESA, the military conglomerate that controls much of the economy, and its head, General Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera. It also listed Moa Nickel, a joint venture of Canada’s Sherritt International and Cuba’s state nickel company.
Sherritt, long the largest Western investor in Cuba, suspended its direct participation in Cuban joint ventures on 7 May. It halted metals refining at its plant in Fort Saskatchewan, Canada, on 22 June, the company said in a September update.
The new round reaches the service, engineering and research companies around the mines. It makes it harder for Cuba to find foreign partners willing to keep the industry running.
The Official Reasoning
The State Department said the targets are part of a system that enriches the elite while hurting ordinary Cubans, Reuters reported. Rubio also said the government threatens US national security.
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has made pressure on Havana a hallmark of his time as secretary of state. The September package is the latest of several rounds of Cuba sanctions this year.
Havana has long argued that American sanctions are the main cause of its economic crisis. A reaction to this specific package had not been found by Sunday.
Costa Rica’s Vile Tyranny
Costa Rica is not indifferent to a vile tyranny that has denied Cubans freedom and prosperity for six decades, wrote Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar. He added on X that his country stood firm in its break with the Castro regime, EFE reported.
The post answered a Cuban foreign ministry statement about the rupture, which Costa Rica had announced in March 2026. San José has made any return conditional on freedom and transparent elections in Cuba, Infobae reported.
A Country Running on Empty
The sanctions land on an island already in deep trouble. On Friday 18 September the national grid failed again, cutting power to millions of Cubans, as The Rio Times reported.
Fuel shortages, food scarcity and emigration have emptied towns and strained public services. Each new sanction narrows the room of a government that has few hard-currency earners left.
Cuba’s power plants are old and short of fuel, and failures of the whole grid have become a recurring event. The energy and mines ministry blamed Friday’s shutdown of the whole system on two high-voltage lines that tripped.
What It Means for Foreign Business
A listing on the sanctions list is not a criminal charge, but its reach extends beyond the United States. Banks, shippers and insurers that use the US financial system tend to avoid anyone on it.
For Canadian, European and Latin American firms still active in Cuba, the compliance risk has grown again. Any partner of the named nickel and military companies now needs to check its exposure.
Further designations remain possible under the May executive order. It covers Cuba’s energy, defence, metals and mining, financial services and security sectors.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the US sanction in Cuba?
It sanctioned 11 targets on 17 September: four state companies tied to nickel reserves, four military research firms and three military officers.
What does the sanction do?
It freezes any assets the targets hold under US jurisdiction and bars US persons from dealing with them. Foreign banks and shippers linked to the US financial system usually avoid them too.
Why is nickel important to Cuba?
It is one of the island’s few large sources of foreign currency, mined mainly around Moa in eastern Cuba.
What did Costa Rica say about Cuba?
Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar called Cuba’s government a vile tyranny on 19 September and reaffirmed the break in relations announced in March.
Were these the first nickel sanctions this year?
No. In May Washington sanctioned the military conglomerate GAESA and Moa Nickel, Sherritt International’s joint venture with Cuba.
Sources: Reuters, on the 17 September sanctions, U.S. News & World Report, Rubio’s breakdown, CiberCuba, on the entities named, ChemNet, on the nickel entities, Miami Herald, on the May sanctions, EFE, on Tovar’s statement
