US adds Cuban intelligence agency to SDN List, updates Russia oil authorization

WASHINGTON, May 18, 2026 — The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control added nine Cuban individuals and the Directorate of Intelligence of Cuba to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List under Executive Order 14404. The action also updated four existing Cuba-related SDN entries, adding the Cuba sanctions tag to previously listed parties and revising certain identifying details.

The newly designated parties are all Cuban nationals or Cuba-based entities. The additions include senior individuals from across Cuba and the intelligence agency also known as the DGI and G2, which OFAC identified as a government entity established in 1961.

OFAC also amended the entries for Oscar Alejandro Callejas Valcarce and Eddy Manuel Sierra Arias, both already listed under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program, to add the Cuba-related designation authority. It similarly updated the Ministry of Interior of Cuba and the Policia Nacional Revolucionaria, adding Executive Order 14404 to those entries and revising the names and other identifying information shown on the SDN List.

Separately, OFAC issued Russia-related General License 134C, authorizing through 12:01 a.m. EDT on June 17, 2026, transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to the sale, delivery or offloading of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products loaded on vessels on or before 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 17, 2026. The license covers cargoes on any vessel, including blocked vessels, but does not authorize transactions involving persons in or organized under the laws of Iran, North Korea, Cuba, or certain regions of Ukraine, among other restrictions.

General License 134C took effect May 18, 2026, replacing and superseding General License 134B in its entirety.