U.S. tightens sanctions on Cuba, financial transactions and accounts for the private sector blocked

The U.S. government announced a tightening of sanctions against Cuba, with new restrictions specifically targeting financial transactions linked to the communist-ruled Caribbean island, including its flourishing private sector.

Under the sanctions, updated by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), any financial transaction, even an “indirect” one, with Cuban entities — especially those linked to the security apparatus and GAESA, a military conglomerate — is prohibited.

The U.S. is thus revoking an authorization that had allowed American banks to process dollar payments involving Cuba since 2024, when the origin and destination were outside the U.S. and no U.S. citizen was involved.

Moreover, the new regulations eliminate an authorization that allowed American banks to open and hold “accounts in the name of a Cuban citizen, an independent entrepreneur in the private sector”.

Access to the U.S. banking system for Cuban businesspeople was approved in 2024, during the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden, as part of measures to support the private sector on the Caribbean island.