The US imposed sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other senior officials, marking a significant escalation in its campaign against Havana.
US President Donald Trump has vowed to oust Cuba’s communist rulers, so far using economic coercion, including an oil embargo to paralyze the island’s economy.
Separate sanctions have forced Visa and Mastercard to halt operations in the country, while Spanish hotel chain Meliá, one of the biggest operators there, said it would close 15 hotels, further kneecapping Cuba’s tourism sector.
Washington has also upped the threat of a military intervention: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, recently said the odds of peaceful agreement were “not high.”