Treasury Sanctions Nine Cuban State Companies and the Leaders of a Cultural Institute as Americans Returning From Havana Are Detained in Miami

The Treasury and State departments announced on Aug. 20 new penalties on nine Cuban state-owned mining, metal and construction companies and on three leaders of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, or ICAP. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the institute runs "a vast subversive network in the United States aimed at identifying, cultivating, and radicalizing" Americans. They follow an operation last weekend at Miami's airport in which several Americans returning from events marking Fidel Castro's 100th birthday were briefly detained and some had devices seized, U.S. officials said anonymously.

Pairing economic designations with border screening of returning American travelers extends sanctions enforcement to individual citizens on the basis of what they did abroad. Officials said those detained were released but could still face prosecution.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez rejected the measures, saying they aim at "harming" the economy. They come as a U.S. oil blockade imposed after the raid that ousted Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro has deepened Cuba's blackouts and shortages.