Rubio accuses that the Cuban military controls the island’s wealth from Gaesa

By EFE

May 14, 2026, 10:05 AM EDT

The Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubiocharged again against the Cuban Government, ensuring that The island is “controlled by a company owned by military generals”in a new criticism amid Washington’s pressure on Havana, which has intensified in recent weeks.

“Wealth in Cuba is controlled by a company owned by military generals who keep all the money,” Rubio pointed out during an exclusive interview with Fox News, broadcast tonight and recorded on AF1 heading to China.

The head of US diplomacy, of Cuban roots, also warned that currently in Cuba people “They literally eat garbage from the streets” and that in parallel the “company” that controls the island has 16,000 million dollars at its disposal.

Last week, the US announced sanctions against the Cuban military conglomerate Gaesaits director and the mining company Moa Nickel, a joint venture company with the Canadian Sherritt, as part of the actions to drown the island’s economy amid threats by President Donald Trump to take control of the Caribbean country.

These new “decisive measures” from Washington seek to “protect the national security of the United States and deprive the communist regime and the military forces of Cuba of access to illicit assets,” Rubio said.

“Only 90 miles from US territory, The Cuban regime has led the island to ruin and has auctioned it as a platform for foreign intelligence, military and terrorist operations. Additional appointments can be expected in the coming days and weeks,” Rubio added.

According to the State Department, the Gaesa military company “constitutes the heart of Cuba’s kleptocratic communist system,” controlling a “estimated 40% or more of the island’s economy”for the benefit of the “corrupt elites”, while the Cuban people suffer one of the most severe economic crises in the country’s history.

Trump signed a new executive order on May 1 to extend the coverage of sanctions against Cuba to cover almost any non-US person or company that has commercial relations with the island, especially in the energy, defense, security and finance sectors.

This is in addition to the oil blockade on the island imposed last January by the United States, which has said that it will “take control” of Cuba “almost immediately” and could deploy the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to Caribbean waters.