Cuban-American Marco Rubio has long been a fierce critic of the communist regime in the island nation that was home to his parents until 1956, before they emigrated to America in search of the American dream, only three years before Fidel Castro’s takeover.
As Secretary of State, Rubio is in a position to back his opposition to the dictatorship with punitive action, and on Thursday, he announced that he’s doing exactly that by imposing sanctions on a group that he says has been spying on the U.S. and attempting to undermine us for decades.
He’s targeting ICAP, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples:
The Cuban regime has spent decades using front groups to infiltrate, corrupt, and radicalize Americans. Today, I'm sanctioning the leadership of ICAP, which is one of the primary organizations involved in these efforts—including convicted Cuban spy Fernando González Llort—and…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) August 20, 2026
The Cuban regime has spent decades using front groups to infiltrate, corrupt, and radicalize Americans. Today, I'm sanctioning the leadership of ICAP, which is one of the primary organizations involved in these efforts—including convicted Cuban spy Fernando González Llort—and nine entities that sustain and fund the regime's repressive apparatus.
Anyone supporting, sponsoring, or providing services to these sanctioned actors is at risk of being sanctioned themselves. Foreign banks and other companies that provide services to, or hold funds for, these entities should take immediate action to cease their support.
González Llort spent 15 years in U.S. prisons after being convicted on a variety of espionage-related charges. He was eventually deported.
That’s not the only sanction the administration is throwing down, though — the Treasury Department is also meting out punishment in concert with State:
The Treasury and State departments announced Thursday that they are leveling new penalties against nine state-owned mining, metal and construction companies along with the leadership of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, or ICAP. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the institute is responsible for sponsoring “a vast subversive network in the United States aimed at identifying, cultivating, and radicalizing” Americans.
The administration has already shoved the country into crisis mode with crippling oil sanctions, and President Trump has even joked (?) that he might like to take over the country.
MORE: While the Left Tells Us Communism Is Great, 250,000 People Fled Cuba in 2025
How's Communism Work? Like This: Cuba Goes Dark As Island Nation Hit With Massive Blackout
Meanwhile, as RedState’s Jennifer Van Laar reported in May, the Department of Justice indicted the late Fidel’s brother, 94-year-old Raul Castro, and several others for their role in the 1996 killing of four Cuban American pilots who volunteered for Brothers to the Rescue.
GOP Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (FL-28), who was forced to move here from Cuba with his parents as a six-year-old in 1960, appreciates Rubio’s efforts to force reform on the failed, brutal regime.
🚨Thank you @SecRubio for continuing to apply maximum pressure on the brutal dictatorship in #Cuba, which poses a pervasive national security threat to America!
— Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (@RepCarlos) August 20, 2026
We must not stop until the regime is relegated to the ash heap of history! https://t.co/kfCTb53QOv
In another post, he wrote:
The communist DSA now wants to takeover Florida!
I was actually born in Cuba & was forced from home because of this very same group of cynical thugs.
We must not let these socialists destroy our beautiful sunshine state!
The communist scourge that lies only 90 miles off our shores has managed to survive for 67 years. The Trump administration and especially Rubio have been working hard to make sure it doesn’t last many more.
Maybe a 51st state isn’t such a bad idea…
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are once again respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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