NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
It’s perfect: Three members of Congress representing the most Cuban-American regions want the Trump administration to close the remaining “valves” of trade supporting the Castro/Díaz-Canel Communist regime in Havana, after successfully blocking the import of essential oil in recent days.
The demand from Reps. Carlos Giménez, Mario Díaz-Balart and María Elvira Salazar, all R-Fla., comes as Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned his country “is about to fail” – according to the German outlet Deutsche Welle – and that oil deliveries, amid the threat of US tariffs on exporters without 15 days.
While Díaz-Canel called the US-imposed oil embargo “murderous” and “fascist,” Giménez, Díaz-Balart and Salazar saw it as a positive development and said they would demand on Tuesday that the Commerce Department shut down the remaining aid to the dictatorship out of Washington’s control.
Those valves come in the form of licenses to export goods worth more than $100 million that they say usually do not go to Cubans but directly to enrich the regime.
CUBAN-BORN REP MAKES EMOTIONAL RETURN 64 YEARS LATER AS PART OF GITMO CODEL
Luxury cars, Jacuzzi tubs and other luxury goods remain open for export through licenses granted to several Miami firms, according to Giménez’s office – which provided Fox News Digital with a 50-page document detailing goods cleared by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security to be shipped to addresses listed in Revolu, Havolu, and Plaza. somewhere else.
Giménez, Díaz-Balart and Salazar wrote to Commerce Secretary Jeffrey Kessler and Director of the Treasury’s Office of Export Control Bradley Smith, demanding that they take action on these licenses.
“[We are] in addition to being concerned about American businesses currently engaged in business with entities controlled by the Cuban regime, which is on the State Sponsor of Terrorism List,” the lawmakers wrote.
POST-MADURO, PRESSURE BUILDS ON MEXICO DUE TO CUBA’S NEW OIL LIVING
“Such activity risks undermining the central objectives of US sanctions policy and is contrary to the intent of Congress as expressed in US law, including the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996.”
This action represents one of the most severe sanctions imposed by the Castro regime.
Lawmakers told Commerce that the first section of the LIBERTAD Act clearly states that US sanctions are designed to deny economic support to Havana until “firm progress is made in democratic governance, the rule of law, and respect for fundamental freedoms.”
CUBA’S PRESIDENT SAYS NO TALKS POSTPONED AS TRUMP SEARCHES FOR OIL LIFE
“In addition to these directives, several licenses issued by OFAC and BIS continue to authorize transactions that benefit the Cuban state and military-controlled conglomerates,” they wrote.
Such licenses also ignore the will of Congress that sanctions should be “maintained[ed] until there is a revolutionary government in Cuba.”
Asked about the publicly available manifesto document, Latin American policy analyst Andrés Martínez-Fernández said that while cutting off licensed food and medicine shipments is critical, much of what is often cleared to be shipped out of Miami tends to end up in the hands of the state rather than people.
RUSSIAN JET DOWNED IN CUBA, MAKES SECRET FLIGHTS AHEAD OF MADURO’S EXTRACTION
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, center, speaks alongside members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
That includes, he said, goods that appear to be given to residents.
“Most of these sectors of yours know that you say expensive cars and even talk about them like cement — we export building products to other countries — and everything is deteriorating in Cuba except for the houses of government officials and their collaborators,” he said.
Martinez-Fernandez added that he does not consider the current export situation to be any “purposeful oversight” or that the administration is ignoring any potential pressure.
AS TRUMP PURCHASES RULE, CUBAN PRESIDENT WARNS COUNTRY WILL PROTECT ITSELF FROM ‘BLOODWATER’
“The truth is that we are doing a lot at the moment in terms of sanctions and some of these tools in particular,” he said. “It’s not push-a-button-and-cut-everything; you have to go through everything.”
In their request, the lawmakers said that Commerce must conduct a comprehensive review of all valid licenses authorizing commercial or financial cooperation with Cuban state entities.
“Revoke any licenses that directly or indirectly provide economic benefit to government-controlled companies, in accordance with the restrictions mandated by the LIBERTAD Act [and] improve the processing of future applications for licenses related to Cuba to ensure full compliance with both the letter and intent of US law,” they wrote.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
Cuba’s state-owned oil company Cupet is refueling at a gas station amid the oil crisis there. (Yamil Lage/Getty Images)
While criticizing that particular shift, the lawmakers stressed that they fully support President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s “decisive action” against the Cuban regime.
“[We] We look forward to your actions that will firmly enforce US sanctions against the Cuban dictator and promote a common administration policy against the island’s brutal regime,” they wrote.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Commerce Department for comment on the export manifest.
