Yasin Gungor
23 July 2026•Update: 23 July 2026
The US on Thursday announced a broad array of sanctions targeting Cuban government officials, financial networks supporting Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, and more than 50 individuals associated with a major Mexican narco-terrorist organization.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a State Department spokesperson confirmed the measures, saying that the moves seek to degrade multifaceted threats to national security across the Western Hemisphere and the Middle East.
The US imposed sanctions on nine entities and two individuals it accused of sustaining the Cuban government’s control of vital economic sectors and exploiting overseas labor.
“The Communist Cuban regime continues to pose a deep multifaceted threat to U.S. national security and hemispheric stability,” Rubio said in a statement. He cited a recent agency report detailing decades of attempted subversion by Havana against the US polity.
The US accused Cuba on Monday of conducting a decades-long espionage campaign, claiming Havana had successfully infiltrated the highest levels of the US government.
The new designations, implemented under an executive order by US President Donald Trump, target actors involved in Cuba's financial, energy, and medical sectors.
Rubio specifically identified four entities linked to sanctions evasion efforts for the military-aligned conglomerate GAESA. Additionally, the sanctions target those responsible for the "exploitation and forced labor" of Cuban personnel within Havana's overseas medical brigades.
Trump said his administration intends to "handle" Cuba after the conclusion of the war in the Middle East.
The US Treasury Department previously imposed sanctions on President Miguel Diaz-Canel and several members of his inner circle, including relatives of former leader Raul Castro.
US blacklists Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas financial networks
The US also imposed sanctions on individuals and entities accused of operating front organizations to fund Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and Hamas direct front organizations that move funds across jurisdictions to support terrorism,” said State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott. The designations target Mahmoud al-Abyari, a UK-based senior leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, alongside three individuals and three entities located outside of Egypt that provided “material support to Hamas.”
Pigott stressed that Washington remains "committed to dismantling the financial infrastructure" that sustains the groups.
Action against Mexican CJNG
In what officials described as a "historic action to degrade narco-terrorism," the US sanctioned more than 50 Mexican individuals and entities linked to the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). “The United States is striking at critical leadership of one of the most violent and dangerous narco-terrorist organizations in our Hemisphere,” Pigott said.
The designations specifically target Juan Carlos Gonzalez, also known as Pelon, a dual US-Mexican national who has been identified as the new leader of the CJNG. The transition in leadership followed a February operation by the Mexican Armed Forces that resulted in the killing of the previous leader, El Mencho.
“Pelon’s days of operating with impunity are numbered; he will be brought to justice,” Pigott added.
Last year, the Trump administration designated the CJNG as a foreign terrorist organization.
