U.S. Sanctions Target Cuban Oil Giant CUPET

The United States issued sanctions against Cuban state oil company Union Cuba Petroleo (CUPET), the Treasury Department website showed on Thursday, adding more obstacles for the island's government to import much-needed fuel.



Washington has imposed sanctions on an array of Cuban entities and people, including the island nation's president, as it seeks to intensify pressure on Cuba's communist leaders.



The sanctions follow the U.S. declaration of a national emergency this year that would impose tariffs on any country that supplies oil to the island, a move that has deprived it of fuel imports, contributing to widespread power outages.



"Cuba's Communist elites have weaponized energy as a tool of social control and kleptocratic profit," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a social media post.