MIAMI — While Washington presses Cuba through sanctions and terrorism designations, Miami-Dade County has been running its own, more local version of the same enforcement push — quietly revoking the operating licenses of businesses found doing commerce with the island in violation of federal law.
The campaign, led by County Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez, has been underway since late October 2025 and shows no signs of winding down.
How the Enforcement Works
Under Section 205.0532 of Florida law and Section A-175.1 of the Miami-Dade County Code, the Tax Collector’s Office has authority to revoke or refuse to renew a business’s Local Business Tax Receipt — the county license required to legally operate — if that business, or its parent company, engages in commerce with Cuba without proper federal authorization. Without a valid receipt, a business cannot legally operate in the county.
Fernandez’s office began the process on October 28, 2025, mailing an initial wave of 75 letters to businesses suspected of engaging in commerce with the Cuban government, requesting documentation of lawful federal authorization, such as a license from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Companies that failed to respond faced a second, certified-mail notice on November 25; by late December, the office had revoked licenses for 20 businesses that never provided the required documentation. Fernandez, a Cuban emigrant, framed the effort in personal terms, saying the county would not serve as a platform to finance or sustain the Cuban government.
The Enforcement Has Continued Into 2026
The campaign has produced a steady stream of individual actions since. In April, the office revoked licenses for two additional businesses — Managua Travel Agency Inc., doing business as Cuba Travel & Services, with locations in Hialeah, Homestead, and Miami, and R&R Logistics Customer Freight Solutions LLC, based in Doral — after both failed to respond to the office’s information requests.
In June, the office moved against Vanguard Energy, revoking its license after the State Department and federal sanctions targeted Cuba’s state-owned oil company, CUPET, over the energy company’s reported contractual arrangements with the Cuban entity.
Days later, Fernandez’s office revoked the licenses of Cargo Caribe LLC and two shipping partners, Harkham Shipping LLC and MV Tinto Shipping LTD, after a federal agency determined that a vessel had carried cement from the Miami River to the port of Mariel, Cuba, without the required authorization.
A Local Government Enforcing Federal Cuba Policy
Fernandez has described the initiative as being about the rule of law and protecting legitimate businesses from being undercut by companies operating outside it.
The campaign sits at the intersection of two things Miami-Dade takes seriously: its identity as a hub for the Cuban exile community, and a county government willing to use its licensing authority as a tool of foreign-policy enforcement, effectively functioning as a local extension of the federal embargo.
Businesses that continue operating without a valid license face further fines and legal consequences, and Fernandez’s office has indicated more enforcement actions are likely as additional cases are identified.
