Photo by Gary Raynaldo /  © Diplomatic Times / U.S. Trump administration on Dec. 21, 2020  added three Cuban military-owned companies to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List including Grupo de Administración Empresarial SA (GAESA), FINCIMEX, and Kave Coffee S.A. 

By Gary Raynaldo      DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

The outgoing administration of President Trump continues to show no mercy against Cuba in its economic war on Havana.  Trump added three Cuban military-owned companies to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List including Grupo de Administración Empresarial SA (GAESA), FINCIMEX, and Kave Coffee S.A.    Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla   denounced the addition of the Cuban entities in list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), announced this Monday by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

 In his Twitter account, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez sharply denounced the latest US actions in its economic warfare campaign against the socialist island. 

“I reject new blockade measures announced by Pompeo. Cuba will move forward no matter how many entities they might include in their spurious lists”

-Cuba Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez

I reject new blockade measures announced by Pompeo

Cuba will move forward no matter how many entities they might include in their spurious lists

Every new action in the US foreign policy reinforces the international isolation & discredit Trump and his staff have plunged it into

— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) December 21, 2020

GAESA is the Cuban military’s largest company, which controls large portions of Cuba’s economy for the military’s benefit, Pompeo said.   “Cuban military-controlled FINCIMEX funnels remittances through channels that disproportionately benefit the Cuban military.  Kave Coffee S.A., a coffee company domiciled in Havana and incorporated in Panama, is part of an international network of Cuban-owned companies maintained by the Cuban military and used to evade the U.S. embargo,”  according to  Secretary of State Pompeo.  On November 23, Western Union ceased operating in Cuba after the US government included Fincimex, which was the Cuban counterpart of the US money transfer firm, on the  “black list”.

US Activates Title III of the Helms-Burton Act law that allows owners of properties confiscated by the Castro Revolution to file suits in US courts against entities that “traffic” in those properties.  

Photo by Gary Raynaldo /  © Diplomatic Times /  The Spain-owned Meliá Cohiba hotel across from  Malecón sea in Havana, Cuba

In 2019, the Trump administration’s activated full implementation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act. The law allows owners of properties confiscated by the Castro Revolution to file suits in US courts against entities that “traffic” in those properties.  Lawsuits are now  allowed in American courts against Cuban companies using property seized during the 1959 revolution. Descendants of former Cuban businessman Rafael Lucas Sanchez Hill have filed a lawsuit in Spain against the Meliá  that seeks to recover $10 Million as indemnification for Cuba lands seized by the government in 1960, after Fidel Castro seized control of the island.  President Trump opened the door last month for lawsuits over Cuban confiscated properties  However, Spanish hotel chain Melia Hotels International, in anticipation of the new U.S. policy,  issued  a statement last year, essentially rejecting the latest American sanctions against Cuba that harden the 60-year economic, financial and trade blockade on the island.  Melia states that it legitimately operates in Cuba.