Cuba’s central bank says it will suspend Mastercard and Visa transactions beginning 06JUN, according to reports published by Reuters.
Credit card transactions in Cuba are processed by Financiera Cimex S.A., a financial investment and remittance company owned by GAESA, a military-run conglomerate, with the assistance of foreign partners. Those foreign partners have been the target of US financial sanctions in recent weeks.
Cuban officials told Reuters that a foreign company integral to that process had “decided to limit” its operations in the country after the Trump administration targeted companies transacting with GAESA through wide-ranging financial measures, making it impossible to continue processing those transactions.
On 01MAY, the US president signed an executive order demanding foreign companies cut ties with Cuba's military-linked conglomerate by 05JUN. Foreign companies that don't liquidate operations linked to Cuba's military will face US sanctions.
This news follows the departure of several well-known hoteliers. Spanish hotel chain Melia and the Aston Hotels, operated by Jakarta-based Archipelago International, exited Cuba earlier this week.
As previously reported by Open Jaw, Iberostar Group has also cut ties with GAESA, although the Spanish multinational isn’t leaving Cuba entirely. According to the Havana Times, the company will continue to operate properties owned by Cubanacan and Gran Caribe, state entities linked to non-military components of the communist dictatorship.
Blue Diamond Resorts ceased its Cuban operations earlier this week as well.
The privately held Canadian company had been a key foreign operator in the island’s tourism industry, with properties operated under brands such as Royalton International, Blue Diamond Resorts Cuba, Blue Diamond Cuba, Memories, Starfish, Mystique, and Resonancel.
Cuban tourism has reached a historic low after the US effectively laid siege to the island earlier this year, cutting off its energy supplies with tariff threats against trading partners. Citizens of the communist nation are now grappling with days-long power outages, food shortages and dwindling medical supplies.
The current US administration has also threatened to invade the island nation, with US news outlets reporting that troops, ships and weapons have been positioned in the region.
