US sanctions Cuban military officials, firms tied to weapons procurement

WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - The ‌United States ​imposed ​sanctions Thursday on five Cuban entities and eight individuals who help Cuba secure weapons and maintain relationships ‌with foreign militaries, including Havana's military attaches to China ⁠and Russia.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the designations under an executive ‌order President Donald Trump signed in ‌May that broadened sanctions against Cuban government officials, security forces and their supporters.

Thursday's sanctions target subsidiaries of the military conglomerate ​GAESA, a military holding company and a military aircraft repair business, according to the U.S. State Department. The individuals ⁠designated include Alvaro Lopez Miera, minister of the Cuban Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed ​Forces (MINFAR), as well as Chief of the General Staff Roberto Legra Sotolongo, and Cuba's military attachés ​to Russia and China, among others.

Rubio ‌said the Cuban government uses its military and intelligence services to spy on the U.S. and ⁠accused the country of serving as a staging ground for Russia, China and Iran for operations against it. The action builds on earlier ⁠designations this year of GAESA and MINFAR themselves.

Cuban authorities did not immediately ​respond to a request for comment.

Washington has imposed sanctions on an array of Cuban entities and people, including the island nation's president, as it seeks ‌to intensify pressure on Cuba's communist leaders. The sanctions followed the United States' declaration of a national ‌emergency this year that would impose tariffs on any country that ⁠supplies oil to the island, ‌a move that has ​resulted in frequent power outages.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Ryan Patrick Jones ; Editing by Daphne Psaledakis and Doina ‌Chiacu)

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