New York, 2 June 2021. The main sign of the reinforcement of the extraterritoriality of the United States economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba is the application, as of 17 April 2019, of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, a legislation that imposes coercive measures against third countries to interrupt commercial and investment relations with Cuba, and hold back the economic development of the country.
Since the end of August 2019, the Swiss bank PostFinance ceased financial operations to Cuba, without any official announcement or prior communication to its clients, who were aware of this decision at the time they went to use its services for any operation with our country.
Subsequently, PostFinance announced the closure of the payment channel to Cuba as of 1st September 2019, due to the tightening of the US sanctions against the island and the potential risk of being excluded from the international payment traffic, in case of maintaining commercial relations with our country.
In a written communication released by the Swiss press, PostFinance stated that, although being a Swiss bank for which it is not being directly subject to US legislation, it did participate in global payment operations and depended on a network of correspondent banks, as well as on access to payment operations in US dollars, thus recognizing that US law had “in some way” an extraterritorial effect.
An extensive chronology on the extraterritoriality of the US blockade against Cuba can be found on our web page: http://misiones.minrex.gob.cu/es/articulo/informe-cuba-vs-bloqueo-abril-2019-marzo-2020
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations