Today, the United States took another decisive step to increase pressure on Cuba’s murderous communist-socialist dictatorship and the financial structures that help sustain it. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced expanded sanctions authorities and restrictions involving Cuba, increasing the consequences for individuals, entities, and financial institutions involved in specified activities supporting the Cuban government.
For more than six decades, Cuba’s communist-socialist dictatorship has maintained its grip on power through political repression while denying fundamental political and economic freedoms to the Cuban people. The United States should never allow access to its financial system to become a lifeline for the institutions that sustain that system.
The new regulations strike directly at financial relationships involving entities connected to Cuba’s military, intelligence, and security services. Beginning September 30, persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction will be prohibited from engaging in both direct and indirect financial transactions with entities and subentities on the Cuba Restricted List, including entities controlled by, acting on behalf of, or benefiting Cuba’s military, intelligence, and security apparatus.
The measures also eliminate authorization for certain U-Turn transactions involving Cuba and further restrict access to certain banking services. Foreign financial institutions may also face sanctions for facilitating significant transactions on behalf of persons blocked under the new authority.
The purpose of American policy should be clear: economic opportunity for the Cuban people, not financial lifelines for the communist-socialist dictatorship; humanitarian support for Cuban families, not resources for the institutions of repression; freedom for Cuba, not another generation condemned to communist-socialist rule.
The sanctions framework continues to authorize certain humanitarian activities, including qualifying family remittances and transactions involving food, medicine, and medical devices. The Cuban people should have access to humanitarian assistance without strengthening the institutions responsible for their repression.
South Florida understands what is at stake. Generations of Cubans came to this community after leaving a system that denied them political and economic freedom. Their experience is a reminder that the struggle for a free Cuba is not an abstract foreign policy debate. It is personal to thousands of families throughout Miami-Dade County.
Those who finance sanctioned elements of Cuba’s communist-socialist dictatorship, facilitate prohibited transactions, or attempt to circumvent federal sanctions should be under no illusion about the consequences. The law will be enforced. Those who choose to disregard it should expect its full enforcement, and our office will use every lawful authority available to ensure compliance with applicable federal and state requirements.
There will be no looking the other way and no tolerance for attempts to evade the law. If a person or business falls within our jurisdiction and violates applicable law, we will take every enforcement action the law authorizes. Every action taken by our office will be based on the law, the facts, and the authority entrusted to us.
As Miami-Dade County Tax Collector, I will ensure that our office follows every applicable federal and state requirement concerning sanctioned entities and prohibited transactions. There will be no ambiguity in our compliance with the law.
I commend President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for their leadership and for taking a firm stand against Cuba’s murderous communist-socialist dictatorship and the financial networks that help sustain it. The Cuban people have waited more than six decades for the opportunity to determine their own future. American policy should support a future defined by democracy, economic liberty, free enterprise, political freedom, and the rule of law.
Cuba deserves freedom. The Cuban people deserve freedom. The future of Cuba should belong to its people, not to a communist-socialist dictatorship determined to preserve its grip on power.
Dariel Fernandez
Tax Collector
Miami-Dade County
