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News > Cuba

Cuba Denies Withholding and Taxing Remittances from the US

  • Western Union closed its Cuba operations on November 23, following new US sanctions preventing it from working with Havana's military financial firm, Fincimex.

    Western Union closed its Cuba operations on November 23, following new US sanctions preventing it from working with Havana's military financial firm, Fincimex. | Photo: Twitter/@caribbeannewsuk

Published 17 August 2021
Opinion

In an interview published by Cubadebate, the general manager of Fincimex, Yamil Hernández, affirmed that it is false that the Cuban government or the armed forces kept 20 or 40 percent of the money sent to Cuba from the United States, as politicians in that country keep repeating.

He insisted that the amounts sent were not subject to any tax when entering Cuba and the recipient receives the full amount remitted.

Hernández remarked that Fincimex is a commercial company like many others in Cuba, recognized and respected in the international remittance industry, which maintains relations with important financial entities in several countries and provides this service with the money sent from different parts of the world.

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Its results are public in accordance with Cuban regulations for corporations and the Mercantile Registry, Hernandez said.

He recalled that in October 2020, the U.S. government banned Western Union's relations with Cuban institutions in charge of processing remittances, specifically Fincimex.

With that action it unilaterally put an end to the flow of remittances through regular and institutional channels, with which the government of Donald Trump thus gave continuity to a policy aimed at penalizing the standard of living of the Cuban population on the basis of totally unfounded and unscrupulously reiterated pretexts, he said.

The official clarified that Western Union sent the remittances to Cuba through a scheme that charged the sender in the United States five dollars for every 100 remittances sent to the island as a commercial commission, while paying Fincimex one dollar for every 100 remittances sent, a payment for services rendered, which is a common practice in that industry.

He also denied that Fincimex is a military entity, nor are any of its workers, so it is false that it belongs to the armed forces as its income is part of the country's general resources and is destined both to the maintenance and operation of the company itself -including its technological infrastructure- and to contributions to the national budget and the economy as a whole.

Hernández commented on those in the United States who propose to send remittances without the participation of the Cuban government and, in particular, of Fincimex—operations which are arranged and organized by each country in its national territory as it best determines, complying with its own laws and international regulations.

"This is a sovereign prerogative. The United States cannot dictate that to any country. To pretend to do so is a violation of international law," Hernandez asserted.

In relation to the consequences of the interruption of these shipments through formal and institutional channels, he noted the increase in the difficulty and cost of receiving them, which has a negative impact on the standard of living of the recipients and on the pockets of those who send them, since now they are sent for more than 30 dollars or more for every 100 dollars sent to Cuba and through irregular channels.

Another consequence is the increase in uncontrolled currency transfers from the United States to Cuba, something that is never positive and goes against what the international community is trying to organize and regulate.

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