US Sanctions Castro Grandson, Cuban Bank and Miners

Secretary of State Marco Rubio tied the move to what he called self-dealing by the island's ruling class. "Cuba's Communist regime elites preside over a failed state where ordinary Cubans go hungry," he wrote on X. He accused the government of seeking to "export subversive Marxist ideology to the United States and other states in the Western Hemisphere."

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez rejected the premise in an interview published Thursday in the state-run newspaper Granma. "The truth is that Cuba does not threaten US national security or the US economy, nor does it wish to do so," he said. "The accusation that Cuba allegedly sponsors terrorism actually reveals the US government's lack of seriousness."

Cuba's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanctions themselves, Reuters reported.

Turk, the UN human rights chief, said in June that "children are dying because doctors lack access to essential medical supplies and medicines," calling the situation unacceptable.