U.S. imposes strong entry conditions for vessels from Cuba

The U.S. Coast Guard announced Wednesday that it will impose entry conditions on ships from Cuba. These circumstances are intended to "protect the United States from vessels coming from foreign ports or locations with deficient anti-terrorism measures."

The new policy notified by Department of Homeland Security will take effect on April 2, 2025, according to published the U.S. Office of the Federal Register on its official website.

TheTrump administration is relying on the Maritime Transportation Security Act, a revision of statutes and a directive from the Department of Homeland Security to put the notice in place.

According to the document, the Coast Guard will be able to limit entry to vessels arriving in U.S. waters from foreign ports that, according to the entity, do not maintain effective anti-terrorism measures.

Likewise,  the DHS considers any port under the jurisdiction of a foreign government that is a state sponsor of terrorism as not having effective anti-terrorism measures and will immediately apply sanctions to that port.

Following the U.S. designation of Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, the Coast Guard understands that the Caribbean country "does not have effective anti-terrorism measures."

Therefore, explains the law, which "may prescribe conditions of entry into the United States for any vessel originating from or transshipping through such port or facility, or any vessel carrying cargo or passengers originating from or transshipping through such port or facility."

The current list of countries assessed by DHS as not maintaining effective anti-terrorism measures include Cambodia, Cameroon, Comoros, Cuba, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Madagascar, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sudan, Syria, East Timor, Venezuela and Yemen.

The notice was signed by Thomas G. Allan, Vice Admiral and Deputy Commandant for Operations, U.S. Coast Guard.

U.S. National Security and its maritime space

Title 46 of the U.S. Code, Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA), requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to assess the effectiveness of anti-terrorism measures at foreign ports and to implement a training program for ports in foreign countries that lack effective security.

The Secretary delegated this responsibility to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Other sanctions on foreign vessels and shipping lines for proximity to Cuba

Already in 2019 the US punished 34 vessels of the oil state PDVSA, with which it blocked all transactions, and also sanctioned two shipping companies, Ballito Bay Shipping Incorporated based in Greece, and ProPer In Management Incorporated based in Liberia, for their links to the ship Despina Andrianna, which according to U.S. authorities delivered Venezuelan oil to Cuba during February and March of that year.

Cuba and the list of Sponsor Countries of Terrorism

President Donald Trump, after his return to the White House on January 20, 2015, announced the reinstatement of Cuba to the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, a decision that reversed one of the most striking actions of the Joe Biden administration in its final days.

The communist island was off the State Department's 'blacklist' for only a week, before Trump included it again alongside North Korea, Iran and Syria.

Countries designated as sponsors of terrorism face severe economic, financial and diplomatic restrictions, such as a ban on arms exports, suspension of economic aid, blocking of international credits and limitations on accessing the global financial system.

They cannot obtain loans from the International Monetary Fund and other global institutions. In addition, it facilitates civil lawsuits in U.S. courts.

In the particular case of the Cuban nation, these sanctions deepened those that had already been imposed in a more extensive manner by the economic and commercial embargo in force since the 1960s.