Trump administration pressed to close Cuba embargo loophole with oil set to run out within days
EXCLUSIVE: Three members of Congress representing heavily Cuban-American districts are demanding the Trump administration shut off the remaining commercial "valves" of support for the communist Castro and Díaz-Canel regime in Havana after effectively blockading key oil imports in recent days.
The demand from Reps. Carlos Giménez, Mario Díaz-Balart and María Elvira Salazar, all Republicans from Florida, comes as Cuban despot Miguel Díaz-Canel warned his country is "close to failing," according to German outlet Deutsche Welle.
Díaz-Canel also warned oil supplies may run out within 15 days amid the threat of U.S. tariffs on exporters to Cuba.
While Díaz-Canel called the U.S.-imposed oil blockade "genocidal" and "fascist," Giménez, Díaz-Balart and Salazar saw it as a positive development and said they will demand Tuesday that the Commerce Department shut off the other remaining lifelines to the dictatorship that Washington can control.
Those valves come in the form of export licenses for more than $100 million in supplies they say largely go not to the Cuban people but directly to enrich the regime.
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Luxury cars, Jacuzzi tubs and other luxury items remain open to export through licenses given to several Miami-area firms, according to Giménez’s office, which provided Fox News Digital with a 50-page document detailing manifests of goods cleared by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security to be shipped to addresses listed on the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana, Marianao and elsewhere.
Giménez, Díaz-Balart and Salazar wrote to Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler and Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Director Bradley Smith, demanding they take action on these licenses.
"[We are] beyond concerned by U.S. businesses currently engaged in disturbing commercial activity with entities controlled by the regime in Cuba, a listed State Sponsor of Terrorism," the lawmakers wrote.
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"Such activity risks undermining the central objectives of U.S. sanctions policy and contradicts the intent of Congress as reflected in U.S. law, including the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996."
The act represents one of the most stringent sanctions laws imposed on the Castro regime.
The lawmakers told Commerce that the first section of the LIBERTAD Act clearly states that U.S. sanctions are meant to deny economic support to Havana until "concrete progress is made toward democratic governance, the rule of law, and respect for fundamental freedoms."
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"Despite these mandates, a number of licenses issued by both OFAC and BIS continue to authorize transactions that ultimately benefit the Cuban regime and its military-controlled conglomerates," they wrote.
Such licenses also disregard Congress’ explicit will that sanctions are to be "maintain[ed] until a transition government in Cuba is in place."
Asked about the publicly available manifest document, Latin America policy analyst Andrés Martínez-Fernández said that while cutting off licensed food and medicine exports is sensitive, much of what is typically cleared for export from Miami often ends up in the hands of the regime rather than the people.
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That includes, he said, goods that seem like they would be destined for civilians.
"A lot of these categories of, you know, like you say expensive cars and even talking about, like, cement — we're exporting building products — and everything's crumbling in Cuba except for the houses of the government officials and their regime collaborators," he noted.
Martinez-Fernandez added that he does not view the current export situation as any "purposeful oversight" or that the administration is ignoring any potential lever of pressure.
"The reality is that we're doing a lot at the moment … when it comes to sanctions and some of these tools in particular," he said. "It’s not a press-a-button-and-cut-everything-off. You have to go through everything."
In their demand, the lawmakers say Commerce must conduct a comprehensive review of all active licenses authorizing commercial or financial dealings with Cuban state entities.
"Revoke any licenses that directly or indirectly provide economic benefit to regime-controlled entities, consistent with the restrictions mandated by the LIBERTAD Act [and] enhance scrutiny of future requests for licensing related to Cuba to ensure full alignment with both the letter and the intent of U.S. law," they wrote.
While critical of that particular dynamic, the lawmakers noted that they are fully supportive of President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s "decisive action" thus far against the Cuban regime.
"[We] look forward to your agencies strongly enforcing U.S. sanctions against the Cuban dictatorship and upholding the Administration’s common-sense policy against the brutal regime on the island," they wrote.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Commerce Department for comment on the manifest of exportable goods.