New York, October 26, 2017. International cooperation is one of the pillars of the Cuban socialist system, that is why since April 2016 to date, the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba has shown no mercy with regard to the cooperation projects that Cuba is developing worldwide. Below are listed some of the impacts on this field.
The Central Unit for Medical Cooperation in Cuba (UCCM, Spanish abbreviation) has had problems with the Commercial Banks in Djibouti and Uganda in transferring payments for the medical services that Cuba provides to those countries. These African banks have correspondent banks in the United States and due to the regulations of the blockade there is a high possibility that these amounts will be blocked before arriving in Cuba.
On December 19, 2016, a branch office of the Royal Bank of Canada in the Bahamas refused to process a transfer sent by four Cuban medical doctorswho were providing services in that country to a bank account in Scotia Bank (also in the Bahamas), due to the restrictions imposed by the US blockade against Cuba.
In March of 2017, the Cuban Embassy in Italy reported that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations had been having difficulties to buy computers for a food security project which included Google Earth technologies, for the only reason of being linked to and having as their final destination Cuba.
On March 15, 2017, it was known that the branch office of the Canadian bank Scotia Bank in Antigua and Barbuda refused to allow the Cuban cooperation staff working in that country to exchange the local currency into US dollars and vice versa, or to withdraw money in Cuba using the debit cards issued by that bank. Likewise, that banking institution refused to open private bank accounts or issue debit cards on behalf of members of the Cuban embassy staff. The reason they claimed was the fact that Cuba is a country under US sanctions and banking transactions had to go through US banks.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the UN