US hits Cuba with new sanctions as island’s crises deepen

WASHINGTON — The United States on Thursday issued sanctions against a grandson of former Cuban leader Raul Castro and five state-linked entities, the latest salvo in Washington’s crippling pressure campaign against the communist-led Caribbean island.The US State Department said it was sanctioning Fidel Ernesto Castro, 31, for being an adult family member of other sanctioned members ‌of the ‌Castro family.His 95-year-old grandfather Raul Castro ‌was a foundational figure of the 1959 Cuban revolution and led the country from 2006 when his brother, Fidel Castro, fell ill. He served as president until 2018 but continued to wield significant influence in government.Washington also issued sanctions on the Banco Exterior de Cuba, ‌a state-owned bank, ‌and two companies involved in Cuba’s nickel mining industry ‌and another two companies active in Cuba’s ‌struggling energy sector, including Cuba’s Oil Industry Supply Import Company (Abapet). Abapet is responsible for importing special equipment and spare parts needed to sustain Cuba’s crumbling power grid.The US has since early this year imposed a blockade on Cuban access to oil, threatening ‌tariffs on countries that continue to ship supp