United Nations, United States.- The US blockade submits Cuban institutions to a financial persecution that has worsened in recent years, the Cuban mission at United Nations stressed on Sunday.
The diplomatic mission explained through a press release that from April 2017 to March 2018, the monetary and financial effects of the blockade amounted to 538.300 million dollars.
The damage to Cuba’s banking system due to incidents reported in 128 foreign banks over the same period were also included in these estatistics, the statement said.
The regulations and provisions adopted by the US Departments of Treasury, Commerce and State, approved in November 2017, prohibit direct financial transactions by persons or companies subject to US jurisdiction with 179 Cuban entities and their branches.
This measure resulted in the cancellation of bank transfers to and from Cuban companies included in the list of sanctioned institutions, the Cuban mission at the UN stated.
This situation indirectly affects the operations of Cuban banking institutions, which are forced to modify the usual channels -already severely restricted- to make their payments, thus creating difficulties and additional costs in commercial transaction.
Cuba is still unable to use the US dollar in commercial and financial operations abroad, as well as accessing financing sources from US banks and commercial institutions.
There are still difficulties related to the access to new technologies of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), as most companies that provide the software and technologies are from the United States.
From April 2017 to March 2018, bank transactiosn with Cuba were returned by 55 foreign entities, 26 of which were from Europe, 15 from Asia, 11 from Latin America, two from North America and one from Oceania.
In addition, the organizations criticized the commercial sanctions that the United States and Europe have imposed on Russia, and condemned the interventionist aggressions against Venezuela, which jeopardize peace in the region.