GOP lawmakers demand Trump shut down remaining Cuba commercial licenses

Exclusive: Three members of Congress representing Cuban-American majority areas are calling on the Trump administration to close down Remaining commercial support “valves”. of the Communist regime of Castro and Díaz-Canel in Havana after effectively blocking major oil imports in recent days.

The request from Reps. Carlos Gimenez, Mario Díaz-Balart and María Elvira Salazar, all Republicans from Florida, comes as Cuban tyrant Miguel Díaz-Canel warned that his country was “close to failure,” according to a German newspaper. Deutsche Welle.

Diaz-Canel also warned that oil supplies could run out within 15 days amid the threat of US tariffs on exporters to Cuba.

While Diaz-Canel called the US oil blockade “genocidal” and “fascist,” Jimenez, Diaz-Balart and Salazar saw it as a positive development and said they would on Tuesday demand that the Commerce Department close off the dictatorship’s other remaining lifelines that Washington can control.

These valves come in the form of export licenses for more than $100 million in supplies, most of which they say go not to the Cuban people but directly to enrich the regime.

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Luxury cars, whirlpool bathtubs and other luxury items remain open for export through licenses granted to several Miami-area companies, according to Gimenez’s office, which provided Fox News Digital with a 50-page document detailing lists of goods cleared by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security to be shipped to addresses listed in Revolution Square in Havana, Marianao and elsewhere.

Jimenez, Diaz-Balart, and Salazar wrote to Commerce Undersecretary Jeffrey Kessler and Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control Director Bradley Smith, requesting that they take action on these licenses.

“[We are] “Beyond concern about U.S. companies currently engaged in disruptive business activity with regime-controlled entities in Cuba, a designated state sponsor of terrorism,” the lawmakers wrote.

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“Such activity threatens to undermine the fundamental objectives of U.S. sanctions policy and is contrary to the intent of Congress as reflected in U.S. law, including the Cuban Democratic Freedom and Solidarity Act (Libertad) of 1996.”

This law represents one of the most stringent penal laws imposed on the Castro regime.

Trade regulators said that the first section of Libertad Law It clearly states that the US sanctions are intended to deprive Havana of economic support until “tangible progress is made toward democratic governance, the rule of law, and respect for fundamental freedoms.”

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“Despite these mandates, a number of licenses issued by OFAC and the Bank for International Settlements still permit transactions that ultimately benefit the Cuban regime and its military-controlled conglomerates,” they wrote.

Such authorizations also ignore Congress’s explicit will to “maintain” sanctions[ed] Until a transitional government is formed in Cuba.”

Asked about the publicly available statement document, Andres Martinez Fernandez, a Latin America policy analyst, said that although cutting off authorized food and drug exports is sensitive, much of what is normally authorized for export from Miami often ends up in the hands of the regime rather than the people.

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Representative Mario Diaz-Balart speaks alongside members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

This includes goods that appear to be intended for civilians, he said.

“A lot of these categories, you know, like expensive cars and even talking about cement – we export construction products – and everything is collapsing in Cuba except the homes of government officials and collaborators of their regime,” he noted.

Martinez Fernandez added that he does not see the trend Export status As any “deliberate oversight” or that management ignores any potential means of pressure.

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“The reality is that we are doing a lot right now… when it comes to sanctions and some of these tools in particular,” he said. “It’s not just a push of a button and everything cuts out. You have to go through everything.”

The Commerce Department must conduct a comprehensive review of all active licenses that allow commercial or financial dealings with Cuban state entities, the lawmakers say in their request.

“Cancel any licenses that directly or indirectly provide an economic benefit to regime-controlled entities, consistent with the restrictions imposed by Libertad law.” [and] “Enhance scrutiny of future license applications related to Cuba to ensure full compliance with the letter and intent of U.S. law,” they wrote.

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Cuba’s state-owned oil company COBIT supplies fuel to a gas station amid the oil crisis there. (Yamil Lag/Getty Images)

Although they criticized this particular dynamic, lawmakers indicated they fully supported the president Donald Trump And the “decisive action” taken so far by Secretary of State Marco Rubio against the Cuban regime.

“[We] “We look forward to your agencies vigorously enforcing US sanctions against the Cuban dictatorship and supporting the administration’s sound policy against the brutal regime on the island,” they wrote in the letter.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Commerce for comment on the Exportable Goods Statement.