The authorization of the United States of a new channel for sending remittances to Cuba could alleviate an unfair measure for families, although it increases transaction costs.
So the United States prohibited remittances via Western Union to Cuba, which charged around five dollars for every 100 sent, to apparently authorize formulas that charge the sender up to 30 dollars for every 100, Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández said today. from Cossio on Twitter.
In October 2020, the Donald Trump administration ended the relations of the Western Union company with the Cuban financial institutions in charge of processing remittances, specifically Fincimex, under the false pretext that the government or the armed forces obtained part of the amount sent. .
Western Union sent remittances to Cuba, through a scheme that charged the issuer in the United States five dollars for every 100 sent to the island as a commercial commission, while paying Fincimex one dollar for every 100 sent, a payment for services rendered which is a common practice in that industry.
Although in his presidential campaign, Democrat Joe Biden promised to restore the flows, he maintained this measure when he arrived at the White House under the pretext that the money sent would not favor the government in Havana.
This caused that during the Covid-19 pandemic, Cuban families had to resort to irregular variants to send their money and that this procedure became up to six times more expensive.
In December of last year, the State Department finally authorized the RevoluGROUP company to process the flow of money from the United States to the Caribbean island and in this first quarter the first operations were carried out, according to the entity itself.
Remittances may be deposited in the Freely Convertible Currency accounts of Bandec, BPA and Metropolitano banks and transfers may be made through the Canadian company’s website.
