He Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) authorized a new license to a company based in Florida to manage remittances for the islandas confirmed this Tuesday by the institution.
According to a resolution published in the Official Gazettethe BCC gave the go-ahead for Cubamax Travel Inc.legally incorporated in Hialeah, in Miami-Dade Countycan “channel funds, through Cuban financial institutions” to accounts on the island or deliver cash in national currency or foreign currency to its beneficiaries.
Before this company, the Cuban state firm Orbit, currently sanctioned by Washington, was in charge of currency management.
The American company, which describes itself as a travel agency, also offers product shipping services to Cuba. According to the publicly available information, it is in charge of businessman Carlos Trujillo, reports an agency office. EFE.
The resolution of the Central Bank of the island, which will take effect in five business days, establishes that the US firm must designate a representative residing in Cuba.
You must also “submit to the supervision and information requirements” of the BCC, “maintain accounting and property separation” between the operations authorized in Cuba and those carried out in other places and “submit to the jurisdiction of the Cuban courts,” among other obligations.
Remittances from the US to Cuba
Until the COVID-19 pandemic, remittances were one of the country’s main foreign exchange earnings, mired in a deep economic crisis, along with professional services and tourism, the latter in free fall in recent years.
According to independent expert estimates, cited by EFE, Remittances represented, between 2005 and 2020, 6% of the island’s gross domestic product (GDP).
After the return of donald trump to the White House, Cuba returned to the list of “countries sponsoring terrorism.” In this context, the Orbit company was included in the list of restricted entities, with which US legislation prohibits having direct financial ties.
Following this decision by Washington, the North American company Western Union (WU) decided to suspend sending remittances to the island.
WU had reactivated its services in 2024, after suspending it in 2020 due to its inclusion in the list of restricted entities of Fincimex – which until then processed remittances on the island – for being an entity of the GAESA business conglomerate, controlled by the Cuban Armed Forces.
Washington’s restrictions have given rise to the rise of remittances entering through informal channels through people known colloquially as “mules” or through Florida agencies.
Recently, Miami-Dade authorities local licenses revoked to 20 businesses suspected of carrying out trade with Cuba without proper federal authorization. Cubamax is not among those twenty businesses, according to the disclosed list.
EFE / OnCuba
