Washington blacklisted a Cuban bank

Washington: On Friday, the United States blacklisted a Cuban bank, saying its profits “go largely to the Cuban military” and help “Cuba’s intervention in Venezuela.”

The US State Department indicated that it had added the Banco Financiero International Bank to a specific list in Cuba that generally prohibits financial transactions with the institutions included in it.

In a statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Banco Financiero International is a “Cuban military-controlled commercial bank that directly benefits from financial transactions at the expense of the Cuban people” while providing “treatment preferential “to the army and state companies.

“I reject this new punitive measure by the United States Department of State to reinforce the blockade of Cuba,” wrote Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodrigues in a tweet.

“The inclusion of Cuban institutions in the US lists has the objective of hardening the economic blockade that failed to eliminate the Cuban revolution for a period of 62 years,” he added.

The US move came amid speculation that the Donald Trump administration was in its final days studying the possibility of re-designating Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Such a move would severely affect foreign investment in Cuba and impede the foreign policy of President-elect Joe Biden.

The “New York Times” newspaper reported that the State Department had prepared such a proposal, noting that it was unclear whether Pompeo would sign it.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

This escalation comes before the 60th anniversary of the breakdown of United States ties with the neighboring island on January 3, in the wake of Fidel Castro’s communist revolution.

Tensions decreased between Washington and Havana during the era of former President Barack Obama, who declared the island’s isolation policy the failure, established diplomatic relations with it, and in 2015 removed it from the terrorism list.