Marco Rubio says sanctioned Cubans are "part of the regime’s raison d’être of exporting Marxism"

The Trump administration has announced additional sanctions on nine Cuban state-owned companies, the Ministry of Construction, and officials tied to the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the measures target figures who helped bring foreign activists to Havana around the 100th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s birth, and he accused the institute of deceiving Americans. Rubio described those sanctioned as part of the Cuban government’s longstanding push to spread Marxist doctrine, stir racial hostility, and advance communist violence abroad. Cuba’s foreign minister condemned the move as damaging to the economy and to basic services. The designations include Fernando Gonzalez Llort, a onetime member of the Cuban Five spy group, against a backdrop of US energy sanctions and growing protests over power outages.