Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last Thursday that the U.S. would impose new financial restrictions on Cuba because its military has been dipping into remittances and using the funds to “oppress the Cuban people” and fund its “interference in Venezuela,” The New York Times reported.
The paper reported the Trump administration wants to end the wire transfer of money through companies in Havana that have ties to the country’s military.
The new rules are expected to go into effect in November, and Cuban authorities already said more than 400 Western Union offices there will shutter. The report said a Cuban military-controlled entity called Fincimex processes billions in remittances a year, and the closures will be a devastating blow to the economy already reeling from the coronavirus.
Fincimax said in a statement that employing such a move “in the midst of a pandemic emphasizes cynicism, contempt for the Cuban people and the opportunism of the American government.”
Emilio Morales, the president of Havana Consulting, based in Miami, told the paper, “If the military does not give up the remittance business to other state institutions, they will run out of oxygen, it’s that simple.”
TRENDPOST: We note this barely reported story to illustrate how President Trump continues to crack down on Cuba in an effort get the votes of “anti-Cuban government” Cubans who live in Florida, a swing state he must win to beat Joe Biden in the race for the White House.
