REPUBLIC OF CUBA
Permanent Mission to the United Nations
315 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016
PRESS RELEASE
U.S. levies a new fine for violating blockade against Cuba. New York, 9 June 2017. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury Department levied a new fine upon American Honda Finance Corporation (AHFC), which amounts to $87,255 for violating the regulations of the U.S. blockade against Cuba.
OFAC claimed in this case that one of Canada’s AHFC subsidiaries approved and financed 13 car lease arrangements between a Honda dealer and the Cuban Embassy in Ottawa between February 2011 and March 2014.
The sanction to AHFC, the first of its kind under Donald Trump´s Administration, shows the persistence of the economic, commercial and financial blockade and its extraterritorial scope, with the consequentual negative implications on Cuba´s economic and social development as well as external economic relations.
Since the announcements of 17 December 2014, the United States government has fined 11 entities – seven American and four foreign companies – with a value of $2,842,429,064. This new fine is added to the long list of extraterritorial sanctions imposed by the U.S. government, under the framework of laws governing the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.
This not only hampers the work of Cuban diplomats in a third country, but also harms Canadian citizens and companies that maintain relations with Cuban entities. Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations.
