The Spanish food group Vima removed its name and all corporate signage from its only store in Havana on September 30 —located at Infanta and Santa Marta, in Centro Habana— and drastically reduced activity in its warehouses, in what international media interpret as a direct response to the tightening of U.S. sanctions against GAESA, the business conglomerate of the Cuban Armed Forces.
According to international media, the move came a day after the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced, on September 29, the broadest sanctions package yet against Cuba, which took effect immediately and included a ban on indirect transactions with entities on Cuba's Restricted List and the elimination of so-called U-Turn transactions and the freezing of bank accounts of private Cuban entrepreneurs in U.S. banks.
Two workers from the store on Infanta and Santa Marta confirmed to 14ymedio the nature of the withdrawal. "The company is in the process of pulling out," one of them stated. According to that source, the marks left on the façade after the old signs were removed could still be seen.
The establishment operated in association with Cimex, a corporation integrated into the framework of GAESA, and the products of the Spanish company occupied a significant part of its shelves.
Although some canned and packaged goods from Vima remained on the shelves, fresh products had disappeared.
The signs of contraction extended beyond the store. At the Berroa warehouses, east of the capital, only one of the three buildings associated with the company still held merchandise; the other two were empty, although there were still employees in company uniforms.
Vima's dependence on Cuba was extraordinary. Its food division —Corporación Alimentaria Vima, based in A Coruña— generated approximately 106 million euros in 2025, of which about 49 million (approximately 46%) came from operations on the island, according to data from the U.S. Department of State. Cuba was by far its largest market, ahead of the Dominican Republic (33 million) and Mexico (15.4 million).
This exhibition was built through its subsidiary Vima Caribe S.A., whose local partner is Tiendas Caribe, an entity linked to the Cuban military.
In May 2024, the company signed an agreement to manage 20 stores on the island. Additionally, it exports products from the U.S. through Vima USA Ltd., with offices in New York and Miami, which exposes it to Washington's sanctions regime through two different avenues.
The attempt by Vima to neutralize political pressure quickly failed. In July, the company hired the lobbying firm Continental Strategy LLC —whose partners include Carlos Trujillo, former U.S. Ambassador to the OAS, and Alberto Martínez, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Marco Rubio— to manage its interests in Washington.
The contract, which cost 37,742 dollars, was canceled just five weeks later, on September 1, as a investigation into the failed lobbying attempt revealed. Weeks later, the brand of the Havana store disappeared.
The Vima case adds to a growing list of foreign companies that have either exited or scaled back their operations in Cuba since the U.S. formally designated GAESA under Executive Order 14404 on May 7.
Before Vima, Meliá, Iberostar, Barceló, and Blue Diamond Resorts either exited or scaled back operations in the hotel industry. Vima represents the extension of this phenomenon to the supply of food in the stores accepting foreign currency, which is the main channel for imported products for Cubans with access to foreign currency.
Vima has not issued any official statement regarding whether the withdrawal is a definitive exit, a rebranding, or a temporary pause. The Government of Spain promised on September 23 to defend its companies and rejected the extraterritoriality of the sanctions, but without any visible practical results.
The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Juan Pablo Segura, had warned in August: "Foreign companies wishing to invest in Cuba must have a Cuban state-owned enterprise as a partner, which makes them complicit in the dictatorship's corruption scheme."
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