The United States has announced a new round of economic sanctions targeting Cuba, including measures against two nickel mining firms, energy sector companies, a state-owned bank, and Fidel Ernesto Castro, the 31-year-old grandson of former leader Raul Castro. The sanctions, announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, are part of an intensifying pressure campaign by the Trump administration since January aimed at forcing regime change on the island, which has been under a US embargo since the Cold War era. Cuba responded by unveiling 34 pages of new pro-market legal reforms — including allowing private companies to operate independent travel agencies and easing rules on foreign bank accounts for domestic investors — but the moves have failed to satisfy Washington, which has also repeatedly threatened military intervention. The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Turk, has warned that the combined effect of sanctions and a de facto fuel blockade is causing civilian suffering, stating that children are dying due to shortages of medical supplies, while Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez dismissed US national security justifications as fabricated pretexts.