Aug. 7 (UPI) — The U.S. State Department imposed a new package of restrictions on five Cuban state entities and eight senior officials over their alleged roles in facilitating military cooperation with Russia, China and Iran.

The sanctions target companies and senior officials linked to Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, its security apparatus and the military-controlled conglomerate, GAESA.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said those sanctioned facilitated the purchase, import, maintenance and modernization of weapons and military equipment primarily from Russia and China.

“The Cuban communist regime is a state sponsor of terrorism that spies on the United States, arms violent leftist radicals, spreads poisonous Marxist ideology and serves as a base of operations for Russia, China and Iran just 90 miles from our shores,” Rubio wrote on X.

Rubio added that “as President Trump has said, the United States will not tolerate a rogue state harboring hostile military, intelligence and terrorist operations at our doorstep.”

Those designated include Revolutionary Armed Forces Minister Álvaro López Miera and Chief of the General Staff Roberto Legrá Sotolongo.

The restrictions also target Cuban military attachés stationed in Moscow and Beijing, who are accused of facilitating the transfer of defense technology and hardware.

The sanctions also target the commercial infrastructure of the military-controlled GAESA conglomerate. State-owned Tecnoimport and Tecnotex, which import technical supplies for the defense sector, were included among the entities whose assets are blocked.

The measures freeze any property or financial interests belonging to the designated individuals and entities that fall under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit financial transactions with them.

Rubio said the action is based on Executive Order 14404, issued by the Trump administration in May. The order significantly tightened the U.S. embargo by introducing extraterritorial secondary sanctions.

The mechanism allows Washington to penalize and freeze the assets of foreign companies, banks or individuals that provide material, technological or financial support to the Cuban government.

It focuses particularly on strategic sectors including defense, energy and financial services, seeking to further isolate Cuba from the international dollar-based banking system.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, clarified Thursday in FAQ 1264 that humanitarian activities and transactions, including providing food and medical supplies to Cuba, are not targeted by Executive Order 14404 and are not subject to sanctions.

OFAC also said Washington is working to implement a $100 million humanitarian aid program intended to provide assistance directly to Cubans through independent organizations authorized by the U.S. government.

U.N. experts warn of sanctions’ humanitarian impact

U.N. human rights experts on Thursday condemned recent U.S. measures against Cuba, describing them as an attempt to alter the constitutional order of a sovereign state through threats and coercion.

The experts urged the international community to act to prevent what they called a “silent Gaza” on the island, echoing a warning previously raised by four members of the U.S. Congress after visiting Cuba.

U.S. sanctions, expanded since June and extended to the energy sector on July 23, have further complicated Cuba’s ability to obtain fuel amid severe shortages and recent nationwide blackouts.

“The humanitarian consequences are already turning into a full-blown crisis threatening the rights to health, life, food and development,” U.N. human rights experts warned.

The experts said energy supply problems are affecting transportation, irrigation and basic services, while U.N. agencies have warned of growing risks of food insecurity and shortages of medicine and essential goods.

The experts also challenged a State Department report published July 20 that described Cuba as a multifaceted threat to U.S. national security and hemispheric stability. According to the experts, the report did not provide concrete evidence that Cuba supports terrorism or subversive activities.

“The U.S. government must cease all threats and hostile acts against Cuba’s sovereignty and revoke all measures it has imposed on the country that are contrary to international law,” the experts said.