Cuba lashes out against U.S. fines on foreign banks

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald

Posted on Friday, 12.21.12
Cuba lashes out against U.S. fines on foreign banks
By Juan O. Tamayo
[e-mail]

The Cuban government Thursday denounced what it called the “unjust and illegal” multi-million dollar fines the U.S. government slapped on two foreign banks for violating Washington’s sanctions on the island. The U.S. actions show that its “ferocious persecution of financial and commercial transactions by Cuba and those with legitimate relations … has only changed but has hardened,” a Foreign Ministry official said in a statement.

The British-based HSBC bank agreed to pay $1.9 billion to the U.S. government last week to settle accusations that it laundered drug money through its Mexican and other branches, and violated U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba.

The next day Washington announced that Japan’s Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ bank had agreed to pay $8.6 million to settle what the Cuban statement called “a supposed violation of the unilateral sanctions of the United States against various countries, including Cuba.”

Under the trade embargo, banks cannot move Cuban funds through U.S. financial institutions or handle U.S. dollar deposits for Cuban entities or citizens. Cuba is subject to other sanctions as well because it is on the U.S. list of countries that support international terrorism.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/21/3151332/cuba-lashes-out-against-us-fines.html#storylink=cpy

[Peace Patriot]

1. Tell me again why the U.S. is doing this to Cuba?

Cuz, um, they have the best medical system in the world there, and it's free?

Cuz you can go to medical school there, or any school, through graduate degrees, and it's free?

Cuz there are no homeless people there--everybody has shelter, food on the table, employment, a decent life?

Can't be that, no...

I know...it's cuz Cuba invaded Haiti, and slaughtered a hundred thousand innocent people there with "shock and awe" bombing, and rounded up Haitians and imprisoned them, and stripped them of clothing, and forced them into naked pyramids of bodies, and suffocated and beat some of them to death, and imposed a puppet government and forced the puppet government to sign contracts with Cuban transglobal corporations giving Haiti's resources away?

No, wait! Cuba didn't do that to Haiti--Venezuela did!

And that's another reason the U.S. is imposing "sanctions" on Cuba and fining banks billions of dollars for doing business with Cuba--cuz they're friends with Venezuela and we hate Venezuela cuz...um...

They have honest, transparent elections and we don't, and we're jealous?

No, wait! That's why we hate them! Also, cuz they not only invaded Haiti, they invaded Colombia and murdered thousands of labor union leaders and other advocates of the poor and brutally displaced FIVE MILLION peasant farmers to give their lands to drug lords, Monsanto and other bad actors!

No, wait! That was the U.S.-funded and trained Colombia military, and the U.S. supported mafia boss, Alvaro Uribe, and his rightwing death squads! Hm-m.

But back to Cuba. Why is the U.S. "sanctioning" Cuba? I know, it's cuz they're sending anonymously "piloted" drone aircraft to kill anonymously chosen "terrorists" and anybody else standing around, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Syria...

No, wait! That's Ecuador! But, see, Cuba's also friends with Ecuador which is harboring that terrorist Julian Assange while dropping drone bombs on anybody they please...

OK, here's the deal. Cuba toppled the elected government of Honduras, kidnapped its president, put him on a plane that refueled at a Cuban air base in Honduras, and installed a puppet government to oppress the Honduran people and stomp on their rights in favor of Cuban transglobal corporations. And Cuba is now building yet more military bases in Honduras to entrench its position...

No, wait!

Cuba and its nefarious allies are militaristic pigs, invading other countries, bombing people, torturing people, destroying their societies and stealing their resources in order to enrich the Castro Brothers!

It's those Castro Brothers--who dared to export...their medical system!

Now THAT merits billions of dollars in "sanctions" to anyone who helps Cuba! THAT is dastardly!

No, wait! Now get this! Cuba is exporting doctors to provide health care to POOR VOTERS in Venezuela, so they can get off their sick beds and go vote for free health care and free education in Venezuela! And not only that, Cuba has a medical EYE program, so they can SEE the ballot, and a LITERACY program, so they can READ it!

Now THAT cumulative evil merits "sanctions"--merits punishing banks, businesses, traders, shipping for daring to trade with Cuba!

No, wait! No, wait! It's DEMOCRACY! That's it! The U.S. wants to see Diebold in Cuba!

Ah! Ah! They want Cuba to have all that wonderful looting of Social Security and Medicare, all those firings of teachers and firefighters, all that downsizing and outsourcing, and union busting, and "privatization" and filthy lobbying, and humongous, unquestioned military budgets, and secret budgets and 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting, and corpo-fascist 'news' propaganda, and endless war that WE enjoy. They want to bring, um...freedom to Cuba!



It's not really all that funny but, jeez, you gotta laugh sometimes at U.S. government-transglobal corporate-war profiteer INSANITY. It makes sense to them if to no one else in their right minds. And we don't have nuttin to say about it. That's the funny part.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Polls taken over 10 years ago indicated a majority of U.S.Americans believe we should drop hostility

toward Cuba immediately.

This bullyish petulance toward Cuba for not continuing its corrupt, deadly U.S.-friendly dictatorship seems unnatural even to people who haven't taken the time to learn the facts as opposed to the propaganda. They just feel it's wrong, needs to end, and can easily see there's nothing about Cuba to warrant all that hatred and abuse, the kind reserved for anyone who doesn't bow to US corporate interests first, above the interests of its own people.

Great points landed in your comments.

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. This is an issue that most voters don't give a rat's ass about

But among those who feel strongly, the status quo is favored.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Poll: 7 in 10 Americans back diplomatic relations with Cuba

April 10th, 2009
12:00 PM ET

1351 days ago
Poll: 7 in 10 Americans back diplomatic relations with Cuba

Do Americans back a plan to relax some of the current restrictions on Cuba?

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Obama is getting ready to visit to the Summit of the Americas next week amid rising reports the administration is planning to announce new rules on family travel and remittances to Cuba. Do Americans back a plan to relax some of the current restrictions on that island nation?

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Friday suggests the answer is yes. Nearly two thirds think the United States should lift its ban on travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba. And seven in ten think it's time to re-establish diplomatic relations with that country.

" Republicans as well as Democrats favor re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "On the issue of lifting travel restrictions, Republicans are evenly divided, while Independents and Democrats support the change."

The CNN/ORC telephone poll of 1,023 Americans was conducted April 3-5 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/10/poll-7-in-10-americans-back-diplomatic-relations-with-cuba/

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. Most American prefer mayonnaise to Miracle Whip

But that isn't something that will actually change the way that they vote.

Outside of South Florida (and perhaps a lesser extent Northern New Jersey) most people don't really care about this.

[fascisthunter]

9. except for you

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. I'm not outside of South Florida

[geologic]

6. We'd still have Hostess Twinkies...

...and a lot of other stuff we consumed all our lives,
but don't eat anymore because of HFCS--
a product (pun intended) of the Cuban sugar boycot...

[davidpdx]

10. Whether the sanctions should be lifted is a separate conversation

And one that is worth having I think.

The article is about HSBC laundering money which is illegal. It's not clear if all the incidents were related to Cuba or only some of them. There is a possibility some was from cartels in Mexico.

Several banks have been hit recently. I believe Standard Charter was also hit with a pretty big fine.

The banks can't pick and chose which laws they have to abide by. They got caught and were fined.

[geologic]

11. The article is NOT just about hsbc...

...and sanction is not a separate conversation.

Did you read the OP???

Here's the first paragraph again for you:
"The Cuban government Thursday denounced what it called the “unjust and illegal” multi-million dollar fines the U.S. government slapped on two foreign banks for violating Washington’s sanctions on the island. The U.S. actions show that its “ferocious persecution of financial and commercial transactions by Cuba and those with legitimate relations … has only changed but has hardened,” a Foreign Ministry official said in a statement."...

[davidpdx]

16. It sounds to me like Cuba is complaining about fines put on the banks

If that is the case, then they aren't going to get anywhere. Unless the fines were against Cuba itself (I don't think they were). The banks can't pick and chose which laws apply. Whether the law is wrong or right the banks have to obey them.

Changing the sanctions should be discussed, but complaining about banks being caught laundering funds won't do much.

[geologic]

17. It sounds to me like Cuba is complaining about sanctions

...

[Overseas]

14. Great questions!

[Octafish]

7. Castro cares more about honest banks than his haters do.

Pretty much demonstrates who has integrity, a commie beats a bankster.

[geologic]

8. Yep, that same darn old commie...

...the one who was visited by the Pope;
and on the very same day of that visit,
the Monica Lewinsky story "coincidentally" consumed the media--
and pre-empted coverage of the Pope in Cuba...

[Judi Lynn]

12. Amazing timing, wasn't it? A visit by the Pope to that "atheistic, commie" President and the Bishop

of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, all the right-wing "exiles" from Miami (since they are allowed to travel there), had flown to Cuba to witness the event, and badda-boom, the sudden explosion of the Monica Lewinsky nonsense.

The corporate "news" media stampeded to their waiting planes to hurtle back to the U.S. to start working on the story of the President's sexual behavior, and the Republican effort to throw the Democratic President out of office.

We didn't hear the last of it until the last right-wing harpie had shrieked her last "blow job" howl during a cable news show, and the last Republican had whimpered "how are we going to explain this to our chilllllllllldrennnnnn"?

Did they really get it out of their system? Of course not. Their "Tree of Liberty" needs to be watered again with whatever bodily flluid is available.

[NeoConsSuck]

13. Off topic, but

I just finished watching, 'Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up'

Great movie!

[Overseas]

15. K&R. Time to reconsider.