Trump administration provides Cuban financial institution to US restricted record | Latin America Information

The Cuban Foreign Minister rejects this move as a “punitive measure” aimed at intensifying the US blockade against Cuba.

The United States added a Cuban bank to its restricted business list because the financial institution has ties to the Cuban military and its profits help fund the country’s “interference” in Venezuela.

In a statement on Friday, the US State Department said it was adding Banco Financiero International SA. (BFI) on the Cuba Restricted List, a list of companies the US claims to have links to the Cuban military, intelligence, or security services.

Individuals subject to US jurisdiction are prohibited from conducting financial transactions with any institution on the list.

“The inclusion of BFI on the Restricted Cuba List promotes the government’s goal of preventing the Cuban military from controlling and profiting from financial transactions that should instead benefit the Cuban people,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in the statement.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez rejected the announcement and tweeted on Friday that it was a “punitive measure by the US State Department to tighten the blockade against Cuba”.

“The inclusion of Cuban units on their lists is intended to reinforce an economic siege that the Cuban revolution has not destroyed after 62 years,” wrote Rodriguez.

I oppose a new punitive measure from the US State Department to tighten the blockade against #Cuba.

The addition of Cuban units to his lists is intended to reinforce an economic siege that the Cuban revolution did not destroy after 62 years.

– Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) January 1, 2021

The move comes after US media reports that the outgoing administration of President Donald Trump is considering whether to expel Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism in the final days of his term.

The New York Times said the State Department had a proposal but it was unclear whether Pompeo would sign it.

US Congressman Gregory Meeks, the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has warned Pompeo against naming terrorism and said he will tie the hands of new US President Joe Biden.

“This would clearly be another stunt by President Trump and Pompeo,” said Meeks.

A State Department spokesman declined to comment on “possible designation considerations.”

Biden change of policy

Biden, slated to be inaugurated Jan. 20, plans to bring Washington closer to normalized relations with Havana, Bloomberg reported earlier this month.

This includes easing travel, investment and remittance restrictions, as well as lifting many of the Trump administration’s sanctions and other regulations, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the discussions.

Biden was vice president when the US and Cuba agreed to restore diplomatic ties.

“Today the US is changing its relationship with the people of Cuba,” said then-President Barack Obama in December 2014 when the move was announced.

“We will begin to normalize relations between our two nations. Through these changes, we want to create more opportunities for the American and Cuban people and begin a new chapter. “

Obama later visited Cuba in 2016 – the first such trip by a seated US guide in nearly 90 years.