- President Trump signed Executive Order 14404 to expand secondary sanctions on foreign companies doing business with Cuba.
- Major international airlines like Iberia and Air Canada have suspended direct flights to the island nation.
- Spanish hotel chains face financial crisis as occupancy rates collapse due to the retreat of global carriers.
(CUBA) – President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14404 on May 1, 2026, widening U.S. sanctions on Cuba and accelerating an international airline retreat that has left Spanish hotel chains exposed on the island.
The order expanded the sanctions regime beyond U.S. persons. It added secondary sanctions that target foreign companies and financial institutions carrying out significant transactions with sanctioned Cuban entities.
That shift has hit aviation and tourism at once. Airlines have cut routes or withdrawn from Cuba, while hotel groups with thousands of rooms tied to Cuban state partners cannot pull out their fixed investments as passenger traffic falls.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved quickly after the order. On May 7, 2026, he designated the military-controlled conglomerate GAESA and its chief executive, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, as Specially Designated Nationals.
Rubio described GAESA as “The heart of the communist kleptocracy, an entity that funnels the wealth of the Cuban people into the hands of the military while enabling the regime’s repressive apparatus.”
The administration also invoked Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to suspend entry into the United States for people found to meet the sanctionable criteria in Executive Order 14404. That group includes adult family members of designated people and foreign business executives who facilitate transactions for GAESA.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has moved to implement those entry bans and enhanced vetting for travelers from Cuba. DHS aligned the effort with Presidential Proclamation 10998, which fully or partially suspended visa issuance to nationals of 39 countries, including Cuba, effective January 1, 2026.
The policy marks a harder phase in U.S. sanctions policy toward Cuba. By targeting GAESA, which controls an estimated 40% of the Cuban economy, Washington is pressing foreign companies to choose between Cuban business and access to the U.S. market.
Airlines have responded first. Iberia will suspend direct Madrid-Havana flights starting in July 2026, cutting one of the island’s main links to Europe.
Plus Ultra withdrew from its contract with state-run Cubana de AviaciĂłn on May 12, 2026, citing “force majeure” because of the risk of U.S. sanctions. Canadian carriers Air Canada, WestJet and Sunwing have also suspended or sharply reduced service.
Sunwing’s suspension is set to last until October 9, 2026. Across the market, eleven airlines have suspended flights in 2026, producing more than 1,700 canceled flights.
Cuba’s energy problems have deepened the pressure on carriers. Fuel shortages and the rationing of fuel ships have made operations harder on the island, with only 1 of 8 required ships arriving in April 2026.
Spanish hotel chains now sit at the center of the commercial fallout. Meliá, Iberostar, Barceló and Globalia operate about 30,000 rooms in Cuba through partnerships with Gaviota, the tourism arm of GAESA.
Meliá reported a 50% reduction in operational capacity in Q1 2026. Its occupancy rate fell to 34.1%, a figure that captured the collapse in tourist access as flights disappeared.
Those operators are effectively stranded. Hotels cannot be lifted off the island, and the chains face shrinking customer flows as the airlines that feed their business retreat under the threat of U.S. sanctions.
The pressure extends beyond balance sheets. Foreign investors, including executives tied to Spanish hotel chains, face possible U.S. visa revocations and asset freezes under Title IV of the Helms-Burton Act and Executive Order 14404.
Travel rules have tightened as well. U.S. citizens cannot stay at properties on the Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List, which includes hundreds of hotels managed by the affected chains.
Flight cuts have also trapped travelers who depend on regular service to and from the island. Cuban nationals and Cuban-Americans face another change in November 2026, when a new Cuban immigration law takes effect that requires Cuban-born Americans to use Cuban passports and waives their right to U.S. consular protection while on the island.
Washington has published the sanctions framework across several agencies. The White House posted the text and summary of Executive Order 14404, the State Department published the GAESA designation, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control released General License No. 1 and related FAQs, and USCIS posted vetting and proclamation updates at [the White House](https://www.whitehouse.gov), [the State Department](https://www.state.gov), [the Treasury Department](https://home.treasury.gov) and [USCIS](https://www.uscis.gov).
The immediate result is visible in empty seats, suspended routes and hotel towers with fewer guests. Executive Order 14404 has turned U.S. sanctions into a direct test for foreign carriers and Spanish hotel chains that built their Cuba business around access that is now disappearing.
