The Central Bank of Cuba reported this Wednesday that an unidentified foreign institution, responsible for processing operations with Visa and Mastercard in the country, informed FINCIMEX S.A. of the termination of its commercial relationship, effective from June 6, 2026.
The decision directly responds to Executive Order No. 14404, signed by President Donald Trump on May 1, 2026, which expands the U.S. sanctions regime against Cuba and introduces secondary penalties for foreign financial institutions that maintain ties with blocked entities.
The Cuban regime, which attributes all these measures to a "suffocation strategy" by Washington, reported that other means of payment in foreign currencies remain operational: cash, 100% domestic prepaid cards Clásica and Tropical, as well as international cards Mir—of Russian origin—and UnionPay—of Chinese origin—which reflects the regime's increasing dependence on its non-Western allies.
The deadline for foreign companies to cut ties with sanctioned entities was precisely between June 5 and 6, which triggered a wave of simultaneous exits from the Cuban market.
With the break, Cuba is unable to receive income from the sale of goods and services through Visa and Mastercard, the two international payment networks with the widest global reach.
FINCIMEX (Financiera Cimex S.A.) is the Cuban entity responsible for managing remittances and processing international cards on the island, associated with the CIMEX Group and regarded by Washington as part of the military financial structure of the regime.
This is not the first time it has faced sanctions: in November 2020, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had already blocked it from processing remittances for individuals under U.S. jurisdiction.
The Executive Order 14404 goes further: it designates GAESA (Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A.), the conglomerate controlled by the Cuban Armed Forces, as the central target of the sanctions.
On May 7th, the State Department implemented the first designations under that order, including GAESA, its director Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, and the state-owned mining company Moa Nickel S.A.
The impact of the sanctions extends beyond the payment system. This Wednesday, the hotel chain Meliá announced the cessation of operations in 15 hotels in Cuba due to the risk of secondary sanctions related to GAESA, and Iberostar confirmed its exit from 12 hotels for the same reasons.
Major shipping companies have also halted cargo operations to and from Cuba, impacting up to 60% of the island's maritime goods traffic, according to reports from Reuters and EFE.
Since January 2026, the United States would have accumulated more than 240 sanctions against Cuba as part of the maximum pressure policy of the Trump administration.
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