Photo: Collected

WASHINGTON, United States, June 23, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - The US government on Tuesday announced sanctions against five Cuban companies affiliated with the military conglomerate GAESA, as well as against Raul Castro's daughter-in-law.

The sanctioned entities include GAESA financial intermediaries Rafin and Banco Financiero Internacional, its logistics arm Almacenes Universales, state-owned mining company Geominera and Antillana de Acero, Cuba's largest steel producer, the US State Department said.

"GAESA continues to operate as the financial muscle behind the Cuban regime's repressive security apparatus," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Washington has cranked up pressure on the communist island in recent months, imposing an energy blockade that worsened its already dire economic crisis.

In recent weeks, Washington has slapped sanctions on a number of regime-linked companies and individuals, including Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and members of the Castro family.

Among them was Alejandro Castro Espin, the son of Raul Castro, the surviving historic leader of the 1959 Revolution.

The new sanctions now target the son's wife Annalie Lilliam.

Castro Espin, 60, played a key role in the secret negotiations between Cuba and the United States that led to the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2015.

The sanctions freeze any US-based assets and prohibit the listed entities and individuals from accessing the US financial system or doing business with US counterparts.

According to media reports, some of Castro Espin's extended family lives in Florida.