US allows Cuban entrepreneurs conditional banking access

Private sector entrepreneurs in Cuba
will be able to establish US bank accounts which they can remotely access, US
officials said Tuesday, in announcing an update to the country’s Cuba policy.

The new rules modify a longstanding embargo on Cuba, allowing conditional
access to the US banking system among moves to support the private sector.

“These amendments will facilitate greater access to internet-based services
for the Cuban people,” a senior US official told reporters.

They will also “provide the independent Cuban private sector greater access
to international transactions and US banking services, including through
online payment platforms,” the official added on condition of anonymity.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez criticized the measures as “limited,”
saying “they do not reverse the cruel impact and economic suffocation” caused
by the six-decade-old embargo imposed by Washington.

“These measures seek to create divisions within Cuban society,” Rodriguez
wrote on X.

Under the changes, independent private sector entrepreneurs will be able to
set up remotely accessed US bank accounts for authorized transactions.

According to US officials, this should help to facilitate the import of food,
equipment and other goods that support Cuban people.

US authorities have also reinstated authorization allowing for transactions
that start and end outside the country but pass through the US financial
system.

In May 2022, US President Joe Biden’s administration vowed to encourage the
growth of Cuba’s private sector, including by supporting greater access to US
internet services and e-commerce platforms.

As of 2021, Cuban entrepreneurs could establish private small- and medium-
sized enterprises — after these were banned for almost six decades in favor
of state-owned enterprises.

Some 11,000 private companies have since been registered, said US officials.

Cuba’s centrally planned economy is in its deepest crisis since the end of
Soviet subsidies in the 1990s.

“The Cuban economy is a shambles and there is rising public frustration with
the arthritic dictatorship,” said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin
America program at the Wilson Center.

“Greater internet access would offer business opportunities and new tools for
Cubans to work together to communicate their legitimate grievances,” he said.

Authorities said that the latest announcement excludes prohibited Cuban
government officials such as military officers.

The amendment also comes shortly after the Biden administration removed Cuba
from a list of countries that it says do not cooperate fully on
counterterrorism.

Cuba was on the list alongside Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela. (BSS/AFP)