U.S. embargo damages Cuba's national banking system

Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 12:13:04|Editor: huaxia
Video PlayerClose

HAVANA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The six-decade U.S. embargo against Cuba has damaged its national banking system, a senior official from Cuba's Metropolitan Bank said on Thursday.

Some international banks have canceled operations in Cuba, due to the embargo imposed by the United States on the island, Mariana Torres, vice president of the bank, told a press conference.

It has also caused estimated damage worth 28 million U.S. dollars to Cuba's banking and financial system between 2019 and 2020, and seriously affected "funding provided by Cuban banks to local entrepreneurs," she said.

The U.S. administrations have even imposed fines on foreign companies trading with the Caribbean nation, Torres said.

Torres made the remarks ahead of the Cuban government's presentation of its annual draft resolution against the embargo before the UN General Assembly in June, which was postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

First imposed in 1962, the embargo was tightened by former U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, which banned U.S. flights to Cuban cities except for Havana, barred U.S. cruise ships and yachts from visiting the Caribbean nation, and limited remittances that Cuban-Americans send to their families on the island. Enditem

KEY WORDS:
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020071420000000000000011100001399301211