Countless Cuban families will be affected by the suspension of sending remittances to as a result of the U.S. Government’s turn of the screw in its irrational hard-line policy towards the island.
A statement, cited in digital media, emphasized that “due to a change in United States sanctions regulations,” the financial services company is forced to indefinitely suspend its money transfer service to Cuba, “with immediate effect.”
The decision is not surprising, it was seen coming, because Orbit SA, in charge of processing remittances, was included in Cuba’s List of Restricted Entities with the return of Republican Donald Trump to the White House.
On January 20, when he took office, Trump overturned the last-minute measures of his predecessor Joe Biden, and reestablished, among others, that list.
This was followed by the statements of the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who on January 31 announced that in addition to reinstating the entities that were “until the last week of the previous administration, we are adding Orbit, S.A.”, which, according to him, “acts for or on behalf of the Cuban military forces.”
On Wednesday the State Department published the updated template and, in effect, Orbit SA was added to the existing ones, according to the text that can be read on the Federal Register page.
The warning is that for the included entities, direct financial transactions in general are prohibited in accordance with the Regulations for the Control of Cuban Assets.
Rubio – who during his time as senator was one of the main architects of the policy against Cuba in the United States Congress – recalled that on his first day, Trump returned Cuba to the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism and reactivated Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, also known as the Freedom Act.
Western Union resumed its money sending service to Cuba in May of last year after stopping it in 2020, during the first Trump administration (2017-2021).
At that time, the financial company Fincimex was sanctioned as part of the arbitrary measures that, as now, intensify the blockade, thus making it impossible for residents on this side of the strait to financially help their relatives in the archipelago.
Two years later, in 2022, the service was restored with limitations and was cut off again due to technical problems.
Cuba’s Restricted Entity List was rescinded on January 16, following the issuance of National Security Memorandum 29 (NSM-29) on the 14th of the same month. On the 20th, Trump issued an Executive Order invalidating NSM-29.
In his first administration, Trump imposed at least 243 restrictive measures that reinforced the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on the Cuban people more than six decades ago.
The Republican returns to his maximum pressure steps. Four years ago, eight days after leaving the executive mansion, Trump included Cuba on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, of which it had not been part since 2015, a position that Biden maintained until the very twilight of his mandate.
With information from Prensa Latina/ Translated by Radio Angulo
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