A view of Cuba. [123RF]
A view of Cuba. [123RF]

Cuba is buckling under intensifying pressure from the United States.

Visa and Mastercard payments will be suspended across Cuba starting Saturday, according to reports by Spanish-language outlet Infobae and other international media.

Cuba's central bank said in a statement that it had received notice "as of June 2" from foreign banks processing Visa and Mastercard transactions in Cuba that they were severing ties with Fincimex.

Credit card transactions in Cuba have until now been processed through Fincimex, the financial subsidiary of GAESA, the Cuban military conglomerate. Fincimex is currently subject to US sanctions.

The Donald Trump administration issued a sweeping executive order on May 1 imposing sanctions on GAESA and third-country companies doing business with it, in a bid to cut off the Cuban government's financial lifeline.

The pressure has triggered a broader exodus of global companies from Cuba.

Major shipping lines including France's CMA CGM and Germany's Hapag-Lloyd have halted cargo bookings to Cuba. Canadian mining company Sherritt International, which had extracted nickel and other minerals on the island, withdrew last month.

Global firms rush for the exit

International hotel chains are also pulling out in rapid succession.

Spain's Meliá Hotels International, the country's largest hotel group, announced Wednesday it was suspending all operations in Cuba. The company added that the financial impact would be limited, as most of its hotels on the island had already been idle due to power shortages and a sharp drop in tourist arrivals. Meliá had operated 15 hotels in Cuba.

The withdrawal makes Meliá the fourth major hotel chain to exit Cuba, following Spain's Iberostar, Canada's Blue Diamond Resorts and Asia-based Archipelago Hotels.

The chains have cited power shortages and declining tourist numbers as their primary reasons for leaving, though observers also point to US sanctions and the broader economic blockade as contributing factors.

The Cuban government has pushed back sharply against Washington's moves.

In a recent statement, the Cuban government said GAESA "is neither an opaque organization nor a separate structure existing in parallel to the Cuban state," describing it instead as "a thoroughly planned and proven national response to the economic blockade that has historically sought to strangle the Cuban Revolution."

While no official figures exist, experts estimate that GAESA controls between 40 and 70 percent of Cuba's economy.

A former US Treasury official who handled Cuba sanctions said the direct and indirect measures targeting GAESA and its business partners were expected to drive out the remaining Spanish, Mexican and Panamanian financial institutions and companies still operating in Cuba.

The US government believes Cuba could collapse as early as this summer and has recently conducted war game simulations in preparation.

트럼프 탈모약 끊었나 숨겼나…의료기록서 사라진 이유는[1일1트]

트럼프 탈모약 끊었나 숨겼나…의료기록서 사라진 이유는[1일1트]

[헤럴드경제=서지연 기자] 독특한 금발 헤어스타일로 유명한 도널드 트럼프 미국 대통령이 과거 복용 사실이 알려졌던 탈모 치료제를 지금도 먹고 있는지를 두고 미국에서
https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10763994

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