The US blockade, and the “1 cent 4 Cuba” campaign to challenge it

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.14.2.0207
• Pages: 207-213
• Published date: 20 January 2023
• Date: 20 January 2023
• Author: Helen Yaffe

IJCS Produced and distributed by Pluto Journals www.plutojournals.com/ijcs/

EDITORIAL

THE US BLOCKADE, AND THE “1 CENT 4

CUBA” CAMPAIGN TO CHALLENGE IT

Helen Yaffe1

University of Glasgow

Following the devastating oil tanker fire in Matanzas in August 2022, many

groups and individuals around the world were frustrated to find financial insti-

tutions blocking humanitarian donations for Cuba, even when recipient accounts

were not on the island. These obstacles had previously arisen during the COVID-

19 pandemic. While the United States is the only country in the world to sanction

Cuba, most international banks and payment systems include Cuba on their list

of sanctioned countries, even though this violates national laws where they are

based. The scale of the problem has increased since January 2021 when, just

days before leaving office, US President Trump vindictively returned Cuba to the

US list of state sponsors of terrorism. Fearing hefty fines imposed by the US

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC) for transacting with Cuba,

banks, companies and investors categorise Cuba as “high risk” and avoid inter-

action. At this point, the word CUBA is being blocked, not just the country. For

example, transactions from the UK to Europe are investigated and blocked if the

word “Cuba” is used in the reference or the account name, even though no

money is sent to the island.

This practice is now being challenged through a new initiative, the “1 cent 4

Cuba” or “1c4Cuba” campaign, set up by three solidarity groups in Britain, Ireland

and Belgium, which aims to “make the US blockade of Cuba unenforceable”

1 Dr Helen Yaffe is a Senior Lecturer in Economic and Social History at the University

of Glasgow. Since 1995 she has spent time living and researching in Cuba. Her books

include We are Cuba! How a Revolutionary People have Survived in a Post-Soviet

World (Yale University Press, 2020) and Che Guevara: the Economics of Revolution

(Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). She has written many articles and co-produced two

documentaries, one about Cuba’s response to COVID-19 and the other about the

state plan to combat climate change.

DOI:10.13169/intejcubastud.14.2.0207