By Raúl Antonio Capote on October 2, 2026
cartoon by Moro
The U.S. Government’s War is against the Entire Cuban People
Washington’s new measures against the Cuban private sector, announced on September 29 and 30, 2026, are not just another technical adjustment to the embargo. They represent a surgical strike against the heart of the reforms that Cuba has been trying to implement since June, when it approved 176 changes to boost its economy for the benefit of society.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) revoked the authorization that, since May 2024, had allowed banks under U.S. jurisdiction to open and maintain accounts in the names of Cuban private entrepreneurs.
These accounts must be frozen immediately, and their funds reported to OFAC; account holders will need a specific license to recover their money.
“U-Turn” transactions—which allowed U.S. banks to process dollar-denominated payments related to Cuba when both the origin and destination were outside the U.S.—were also banned.
“People-to-People” educational travel was eliminated, and organizing or attending professional conferences on the island was prohibited; furthermore, indirect transactions with Cuban entities included on the State Department’s unilateral list were banned.
THE CONTRADICTION EXPOSED BY THE MEASURE
For years, U.S. officials maintained that the sanctions were directed against “the Cuban government,” not against the people or the private sector.
In February 2026, the current administration authorized the sale of oil to private Cuban companies as part of a strategy that appeared to distinguish between the state sector and the private sector.
Now, those same authorities are ordering the freezing of these entrepreneurs’ accounts and cutting off their access to the international financial system.
The First Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, went further: the measures “expose those who claim they are only against the Cuban government and its enterprises,” and he added: “These actions against the Cuban private sector clearly demonstrate that their sole intention is to inflict maximum suffering on our people and hinder the implementation of economic and social transformations.”
Meanwhile, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, a member of the Political Bureau and Minister of Foreign Affairs, put it precisely: the private sector is being openly attacked—the very sector “that some U.S. officials claim they want to help develop.”
The question that remains hanging in the air is an uncomfortable one: if Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently said that “Cuba has already fallen,” why does he need to impose additional measures against a country that, according to him, is already down and out?
Rodríguez Parrilla himself answered this with irony: “Less than 24 hours ago, the Secretary of State said that ‘Cuba has already fallen,’ and yet now he needs to impose additional measures.”
THE REAL IMPACT ON ENTREPRENEURS
The Cuban private sector—MSMEs, the self-employed, and the small businesses that have flourished in recent years—find themselves in a difficult position, without access to U.S. banks or to dollar transactions that pass through the U.S. financial system.
The paradox is stark: the private sector is now being punished at a time when the Cuban government itself has eased restrictions to allow this sector to grow.
This context exacerbates everything; there is something deeply revealing in this sequence—a power that proclaims the adversary “has already fallen” and therefore needs not strike any harder.
Simone Weil argued that force, when it loses all sense of limit, ultimately becomes its own justification: it no longer requires reasons; it merely requires exercise.
In *Gravity and Grace* and in her *Marseille Notebooks*, Weil insisted that unlimited force corrupts those who exercise it, because it dissolves the very idea of necessity and justice. These measures seem to operate according to that logic.
For her part, Hannah Arendt warned that instrumental violence, when it loses its objective, becomes pure violence—destructive in and of itself.
There is no physical violence, but there is something analogous in sanctions that seek a change in behavior, that use suffering to achieve a goal.
Literature and philosophy serve a purpose here—not as mere decoration, but to remind us that the grand categories—power, sovereignty, dignity, suffering—have concrete names when viewed up close; the name, in this case, belongs to a Cuban entrepreneur, part of a people being punished for wanting to be free and dignified.
With or without bank accounts, with or without transactions in dollars, the private sector faces the challenge of survival; there are no more masks, no empty promises, no room for confusion (if anyone ever had any)—the war is against the Cuban people.
Source: Cuba en Resumen