File photo, 2016. Plaza de la Catedral in Old Havana. Photo: Yoeztudioz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Published Thursday, 5 November, 2:43 p.m. ET · Source: US Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)

Washington has tightened its squeeze on Cuba’s oil, shipping and electronics trade. On Thursday, 5 November, the US Treasury put two Cubans, six companies and two tankers on its sanctions list.

The move adds to the pressure we track on our Cuba news hub. Our explainer on Cuba US tensions sets out how the dispute began.

Who Is on the New List

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Treasury unit that enforces US sanctions, published the changes on Thursday. It named two Cuban nationals: 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, whom it listed on 7 May. It does not explain that tie, and we have not confirmed it.

Six companies joined them. Four are Cuban: Tecnosime, a state firm that supports oil and gas extraction; Cubaelectrónica, a state wholesaler of machinery and equipment; and two sea-freight lines, Internacional Marítima and Petromarca.

The other two are Beijing H&C Technologies, a Chinese state-owned wholesaler of electronics and telecoms equipment, and Tentacool Commercial, a sea-freight company registered in Panama.

File photo: Plaza de la Revolución in Havana, 20 April 2024. Photo: Josefito123 / Wikimedia Commons (CC0).

Two Ships Join a Growing Fleet List

Both new vessels sail under the Cuban flag. Emilia is a gas tanker built in 2002 and linked to Petromarca, while Gloria C, a chemical and fuel tanker built in 2010, is linked to Caroil Transport Marine.

Caroil is a shipper registered in Cyprus with an office in Havana. OFAC also tagged Caroil itself, and three tankers already on the list for Venezuelan oil, under its Cuba programme: Maria Cristina, Esperanza and Lourdes.

Those names now carry two sets of US restrictions. For a ship, that means fewer ports, insurers and banks willing to touch it.

A Sector Order Raises the Stakes

OFAC also published a Cuba determination titled “Electronics, Manufacturing, Marine, and Technology Sectors of the Cuban Economy.” It falls 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.A sector determination is meant to let the Treasury sanction firms that operate in the named industries, including firms outside Cuba. We have not read the full text, so the exact terms and any grace period are unconfirmed.

Pressure Has Built Since May

OFAC listed Lastres Morera on 7 May, a week after the order. On 11 June it added Unión Cuba-Petróleo, known as CUPET, the state oil company.

Thursday’s round moves down the supply chain, from the oil company to the ships, wholesalers and a Chinese supplier. It lands while Cuba struggles with blackouts, which we covered when a Turkish power ship left Havana.

What It Means for US Readers

American companies, banks and insurers must freeze any property of the newly listed parties and stop dealing with them. Shipbrokers and port operators should check vessel names against the updated list.

The clearest losers are the listed shippers and suppliers, which lose easy access to US banks and dollar payments. Watch whether the sector order draws in non-Cuban firms, because that would widen the reach to companies far from Havana.

What Prediction Markets Say

On Polymarket, a platform where users trade on real-world outcomes, the market “Cuban regime falls in 2026?” stood at 4.5% at 2:39 p.m. ET on 5 November, with US$1.9 million traded. We found no active Kalshi market on the question.

Why we show this: prediction markets turn real-money bets into a live probability that moves within minutes of the news, which is why investors, campaigns and newsrooms in the United States now follow them closely. We show them next to polls and official results, never instead of them.

What Is Not Known

We do not know the exact time of the announcement, or whether any licence gives the listed firms time to wind down. The State Department fact sheet that accompanied the action, “Further Sanctions on the Cuban Regime’s Foreign Military Support and Illicit Revenue Networks,” may count designations differently, and we could not read it.

OFAC gives no reason for listing Rodríguez López-Calleja. We found no comment from Havana, Beijing, Panama or the companies.

More: Cuba news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who did the US sanction on 5 November 2026?

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control listed Guillermo Faustino Rodríguez López-Calleja and Any Rodríguez Lastres, six companies in Cuba, China and Panama, and the ships Emilia and Gloria C.

What does the new Cuba sector order do?

It names electronics, manufacturing, marine and technology as Cuban sectors where firms can be sanctioned under Executive Order 14404. We have not seen its full text, so licences and deadlines are unconfirmed.

Sources: US Treasury OFAC, recent actions of 5 November 2026, 1 May 2026, 7 May 2026 and 11 June 2026; Polymarket (Cuban regime falls in 2026?).

Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error