Statement From Dariel Fernandez On Trump And Rubio’s Actions Against The Cuban Dictatorship And LBT Revocations For Miami-Dade Companies Doing Business With Sanctioned Entities

The actions announced today by President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio send a clear and unequivocal message: the United States will not tolerate a dictatorship that remains in power by repressing, imprisoning, and exploiting its own people. I fully support these additional sanctions against the entities that finance, protect, and sustain the communist and socialist dictatorship in Cuba.

These sanctions strike directly at the structure that keeps the regime alive: its sources of funding, its paramilitary forces, its surveillance organizations, and the state-controlled entities that enrich themselves while the Cuban people go hungry, endure persecution, and are denied the most fundamental freedoms. This is precisely the kind of firm and decisive action that the United States must continue taking against a criminal dictatorship that has oppressed generations of Cubans and threatened American interests for more than six decades.

As Miami-Dade County Tax Collector, I also want to make one thing absolutely clear: any company located in Miami-Dade County that maintains commercial relations or conducts business with entities of the Cuban dictatorship in violation of federal law, including sanctions, restrictions, or designations imposed by the United States Department of Commerce or the United States Department of State, will be investigated, and the appropriate legal process to revoke its Local Business Tax Receipt will begin immediately. Miami-Dade cannot become an economic safe haven for those who finance, sustain, or benefit from the repression of the Cuban people. Those who choose to violate federal law and do business with the oppressors must face the consequences.

As someone who fled communist Cuba in search of freedom, I know that this regime must never be treated as a legitimate or normal government while it persecutes dissidents, imprisons political opponents, exploits workers, and uses fear, surveillance, and violence to silence its own people.

The dictatorship understands only pressure, consequences, and strength. Every dollar denied to the regime is one less dollar available to finance repression. Every sanction sends a direct message to Cuba’s rulers, their accomplices, and the Cuban people: the United States knows who the oppressors are, knows who finances them, and will not stand idly by.

I remain firmly committed to supporting policies that weaken the dictatorship, hold its leaders and collaborators accountable, cut off its sources of funding, and stand resolutely with the Cuban people in their struggle for freedom, democracy, and human dignity.

For additional information regarding today’s sanctions, please refer to the U.S. Department of State’s official fact sheet at the link below.

https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/07/further-sanctions-on-the-cuban-regimes-sources-of-funding-and-tools-of-oppression

Dariel Fernandez

Tax Collector

Miami-Dade County