New York, October 5, 2017. Despite the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, the policy of blockade against Cuba is maintained and applied with full rigor. In September 2017, US President Donald Trump, just like his predecessors have done, extended for one year the application of economic sanctions to Cuba under the legal framework set in the "Trading with the Enemy Act".
During the period from April 2016 to June 2017, there have been numerous examples of how this criminal policy has been implemented. Just to set a few examples:
Ø On June 7, 2016, it became known that the Santander Bank canceled the point-of-sale terminal services to the Consulate General of Cuba in Seville, despite the prior signing of a service contract between both entities.
Ø On June 20 of that year, the Dutch mail and parcel Service Company TNT BV returned two postal consignments to the Consulate General of Cuba in Madrid that were destined to the Cuban embassies in China and Indonesia, containing passports of Cubans residing abroad, claiming that the return was due to corporate orders related to the US blockade against Cuba. The same company canceled postal services on August 1to the Cuban Consulate in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Ø On August 10, 2016, the branch of the US company Amazon.com in the United Kingdom refused to process orders for the Cuban Embassy in London, as it constituted a violation of the economic regulations it should comply with, while on April 11, 2017, the same company closed the accounts of the staff of the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations, claiming that they had to comply with US regulations.
Ø On September 7, 2016, it became known that in August 2015, OFAC officially announced the imposition of a $100,000 fine on US citizen Albert A. Fox Jr., president of the Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy, for violating the regulations of the blockade on two trips to Cuba in August 2010 and September 2011. The case is awaiting a hearing.
Ø On 12 October 2016, two transfers from accounts belonging to the Cuban embassies in Turkey and Germany respectively were denied. In the first case, the Turkish Business Bank (Türkiye İş Bankasi S.A) refused to process a transfer of 60,000 euros to help in the recovery of areas affected by Hurricane Matthew.
Ø On January 13, 2017, OFAC imposed a fine on the Canadian Toronto-Dominion Bank and its branches Internaxx Bank S.A. and TD Waterhouse Investment Services (Europe) Limited, for a total of $516,510. It was claimed that the banking institution had processed, between 2007 and 2011, 29 transactions related to Cuba that went through the US banking system.
Ø On April 11, 2017, the HSBC Bank Canada, a branch of the British banking group HSBC Bank, refused to accept a transaction from the Canadian company Reuven International, for the Cuban Consulate in Toronto, arguing that it was related to Cuba; even though when the transaction was made in Canadian dollars.
The economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba exists and is rigorously enforced by US agencies, including its extraterritorial dimension, that affects third countries as well.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations