US sanctions Cuban military bank and mining company

Investing.com -- The United States imposed sanctions on Cuba's military banking arm and a state-run mining company on Tuesday, expanding economic pressure on the island's communist government.

The Treasury Department added Banco Financiero Internacional SA and GeoMinera SA to its blacklist, along with a state-run steelmaker, a non-bank financial firm, a logistics company, and former President Raúl Castro's daughter-in-law.

Banco Financiero Internacional, known as BFI, operates as part of Grupo de Administración Empresarial SA, the military conglomerate that controls large portions of Cuba's economy. The bank serves as Cuba's primary commercial lender and handles hard-currency transactions with foreign companies.

GeoMinera, which operates under the mining and energy ministry, partners with Trafigura Group on a zinc mine in western Cuba. Trafigura stopped shipments to some Chinese customers earlier this month due to tighter sanctions and an energy crisis.

"Gaesa continues to operate as the financial muscle behind the Cuban regime's repressive security apparatus," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement with the new Office of Foreign Assets Control designations.

GeoMinera and the steelmaker Empresa Siderúrgica José Martí, known as Antillana de Acero, were targeted because they generate revenue for Cuba through the exploitation of the island's mineral and metal reserves, Rubio said.

The sanctions also include Annalie Lilliam Rueda Cardero, a Cuban author and reporter married to General Alejandro Castro Espín, son of the 95-year-old former president.

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