New US fines ratify validity of anti-Cuban blockade

The recent fines imposed by the United States against a non-profit organization and a bank show the existence of the blockade that Washington has been maintaining against Cuba since 1962, despite the global rejection.

The Treasury Department fined $10,000 to the nonprofit Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation (ARCPF) and $955,750 to the Canadian bank Toronto Dominion for violating the blockade's laws.

For the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, these fines a week after the end of President Barack Obama's mandate demonstrate the persistence of the blockade and its extraterritorial reach, with its consequent economic and commercial damage.

According to the Office for the Control of Foreign Assets, between August 2010 and September 2011, the ARCPF coordinated trips to Cuba of US citizens, who did not classify in the 12 categories approved to do so.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Dominion conducted transactions between 2003 and 2011 through the United States financial system for the benefit of a Canadian company, which financed commercial activities in Cuba.

Since December 2014, when Washington and Havana announced the beginning of a process to normalize their relations, the US government has fined seven US organizations and four foreign entities for a total value of $2,843,623, 359.

In particular, the Obama administration imposed 52 fines for the violations of sanctions against Cuba and other countries, with a total value of $ 14,404,358,605.