Overview
- The Banco Central of Cuba said international Visa and Mastercard transactions will cease on the island starting June 6 after an unnamed foreign bank processor told the central bank on June 2 that it was ending its relationship with Fincimex to avoid U.S. penalties.
- Fincimex is the financial arm linked to GAESA, the military‑run conglomerate named in President Trump’s May 1 Executive Order No. 14404 that authorizes secondary sanctions on foreign firms doing business with GAESA.
- The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control expanded sanctions on June 4 to include President Miguel Díaz‑Canel, members of the Castro family and several Cuban institutions, increasing pressure on banks and companies that serve Cuba.
- Several foreign firms have already scaled back or left Cuba’s tourism, mining and shipping sectors — including Meliá, Iberostar, Blue Diamond and Sherritt and carriers that suspended container deliveries — reducing the island’s main sources of foreign exchange.
- Cuban authorities say payments will shift to cash, domestic prepaid cards and limited international networks such as Russia’s Mir and China’s UnionPay, but those options are unlikely to replace lost Visa/Mastercard inflows and could deepen shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies for ordinary Cubans.