Trump spent money in cuba snopes3/30/2023 ![]() The measure will reduce revenue for Gaesa, an opaque military conglomerate whose role in the Cuban economy has grown over the last decade. Though data on Cuba’s foreign exchange flows is sparse, family remittances are probably the island’s third source of hard currency after tourism and the export of medical services. Remittances, most from Cuban Americans, channel more than $3bn a year into Cuba’s ailing economy. ![]() “Family remittances are a vital lifeline for millions of Cubans, especially the elderly and other vulnerable citizens.” These are “the cruellest and most inhumane measures yet taken by the Trump administration against the Cuban people”, said Ric Herrero, executive director of the Cuba Study Group, a Washington thinktank that advocates for engagement with Cuba. But the Cuban foreign ministry issued a defiant statement saying the island’s financial set-up was a “sovereign decision”.įincimex, it argued, has processed remittances for more than 20 years and during that period not “a single cent” had gone missing. Sanctioning Fincimex effectively dared the Communist party to shift remittance processing from a military to civilian-controlled entity. The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said the US measure aimed to cut the Cuban military out of remittances so as to deny “the regime its misappropriated resources”. Last week, the treasury department banned US companies from dealing with Fincimex altogether. The decision was a reaction to new US sanctions: in June the Trump administration blacklisted Fincimex, a military-controlled firm that processes remittances for Western Union. This week, Cuba announced the closure of more than 400 Western Union offices on the island, a move that will eliminate most remittances and aggravate the country’s profound economic crisis. ![]()
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