January 17, 2017
Cuban students get free afternoon snack at their school. Photo: Bill Hackwell
On January 12 and 13, 2017, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed fines on the nonprofit organization Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy (ARCP) and the Canadian bank Toronto Dominion (TD), for $10,000 and $955,750, respectively, for alleged violations of blockade regulations.
According to a report from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), between August of 2010 and September of 2011, the ARCP coordinated trips to Cuba for U.S. citizens, in violation of regulations established by the Treasury Department. OFAC claims that the group provided travel services to two groups, fully aware that this was not an authorized activity.
Toronto Dominion is being held responsible for transactions it conducted within the U.S. banking system for a Canadian company which owns a Cuban enterprise. OFAC indicated that between 2003 and 2011, the bank carried out operations related to financing commercial activity prohibited by the blockade.
These new fines, just one week before the end of the current U.S. administration’s term in office, demonstrate the persistence of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade, and its extraterritorial reach, with the resulting negative consequences this has on Cuba’s economic development and external economic relations.
Since the announcements of December 17, 2014, the United States government has fined 11 entities (7 from the U.S. and 4 from other countries) for a total of over $2.8 billion.
To date, 52 fines have been levied during the Obama administration (2009-2016) for violations of the sanctions imposed on Cuba and other countries. The accumulated total of these penalties has reached $14.4 billion USD.
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Source: Granma
