USA Limits Remittances to Cuba continuing its Aggressive Policy

The United States will impose a limit of one thousand dollars per quarter on remittances that a person can send from this country to Cuba, the Treasury Department confirmed today.

The Federal Registry disclosed a final rule that will be officially published next Monday, in which the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of that entity amends the Regulation of Control of Cuban Assets to continue the aggressive policy of the administration of Donald Trump against the island.

The new rule modifies and, in one case, eliminates certain authorizations for remittances to Cuba, and also changes the general license related to the financial transactions of 'U-turn' to end the authorization that allows processing such transactions, indicates the text.

This action, which will take effect 30 days after being officially published in the Federal Register, imposes the aforementioned limit on remittances as part of 'additional measures to financially isolate the Cuban regime,' Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

In addition to the previous policy that the recipients of such shipments cannot be 'prohibited government officials', or 'prohibited members of the Communist Party of Cuba', it is now established that remittances cannot be sent to close relatives of those persons.

Similarly, OFAC eliminates an authorization that allowed remittances for donations, but maintains the possibility of 'unlimited remittances to certain non-governmental persons and organizations', which will be extended, according to the document, to certain private workers.

For its part, U-turn transactions, known as U-turn operations, consist in transfers of funds processed through a US bank, but that do not start or end in this country and in which neither the issuer nor The recipient is subject to US jurisdiction.

Under the new rule, OFAC terminates a prior permit that authorized such movements, and replaces it with an authorization for banking institutions to reject those transactions.

In June 2017, in a speech in Florida, Trump announced the decision to reverse the process of rapprochement initiated between Cuba and the United States during the administration of his predecessor, Barack Obama (2009-2017).

Since then, his Government has carried out many actions against the Caribbean country, criticized nationally and internationally, including preparing a list of banned Cuban entities, further limiting US travel to the island, and applying Title III of the controversial Law Helms-Burton.

The decision to limit remittances and eliminate U-turn transactions was anticipated on April 17 by the national security adviser, John Bolton, during an aggressive speech against the largest of the Antilles, also in Florida.