US Company Fined for Business with Cuba
HAVANA TIMES — The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has fined the Eagle Global Logistics Corporation $140,000 for doing business with the government of Cuba, reported Prensa Latina.
The company, which is among the world leaders in the supply and transportation of goods, was said to have violated the regulations of the Cuban Assets Control Act between April 2005 and December 2008. Some 280 transactions were cited linked to ocean freight transported to and from the island, according to a statement posted Tuesday on the official OFAC website.
This is the second OFAC sanction related to Cuba in less than a month. On February 22, a $44,000 fine was imposed on the California-based Tung Tai Group, which recycles metals and electronic components.
The United States maintains a half century plus embargo on Cuba and a travel ban that prohibits ordinary citizens to visit the island with a special license from the same OFAC office.
Sorry Moses, just came across your response. It is not hard for anyone, you or me, to give a similar response, as long as they are out of the fire. This issue becomes an academic exercise, as long as it has nothing to do with ones mortgage, healthcare, insurance or food.
We make speculate over opening or keeping the Cuban marketplace shut, while desperate individuals in our communities, are shooting their families in despair, jumping from high rise buildings or simply walking away from their families.
Cuba’s miniscule economy as you perceive it, as opposed to what economists, mayors, councilmen, healthcare providers, farmers, industrialists and others on the east and west side of the gulf of Mexico, have expressed publicly, that by simply allowing normal commercial exchange between both countries, could become the biggest boom in modern times to their economies.
I therefore invite you to visit the port of Houston, New Orleans, Gulfport, Mobile, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville and Ft. Lauderdale and pose a few questions to knowledgeable individuals.
No where in the US, can you find government officials more interested in restoring commerce with Cuba than in Mobile, Alabama, who proudly tells every visitor, that all of that city development was tied to and dependent on Havana.
Finally, take a quick visit to hundreds of black small farmers in the Mississippi delta at risk of extinction, what it means to them, selling rice to Cuba.
America, the home of the free (except I can’t travel to Cuba – such bs…someone really ought to say/do something…) Americans should be free to travel to Cuba if they wish.
Alberto, if you are suggesting that by opening up business opportunities with Cuba, the economic eqivalent of Fresno, California, will somehow be the saving grace for the US economy, you really need to put your crack pipe down. Cuba simply does not have the economic muscle to get excited about. The buying power of 11.2 million poor Cubans may motivate a handful of midwest farmers looking to sell foodstuffs or a group of Miami-based Cuban businessmen who want to take advantage of the new market but don’t kid yourself. Apple is not expecting to sell truckloads of new iPads nor General Motors planning on unloading a shipload of new Cadillacs to a nation where the average monthly salary is $20. Here is bottom line: The ONLY reason Obama has to improve relations with Cuba including expanding business opportunities is to gain an ally (political or military) or to weaken an enemy, Lose the idea that we care about doing business in Cuba. Lose the idea we hope to improve our image in Latin America. Lose the idea it is the morally correct thing to do. Esteban Morales posted an article on his blog that was reposted here a few days ago on HT where he declares that current US Cuban relations has somehow put Obama in a ‘predicament”. Now you are implying that because of our slow to improve economy,.we should lift the embargo to buy and sell with Cuba. You and Mr. Morales grossly overestimate Cuba’s status.
Shooting one self in the foot is a popular expression in the US. This is a tragic representation of this axiom, as millions of people in this country are unemployed, have lost their homes, have returned home in despair and shot their spouse, children and others, bankruptcy has become a household world for millions, bread pantry are flourishing, most are shopping at the Thrift and Dollar Stores, while neither the US government nor the private enterprise, have been able to reduce the unemployment among Hispanics and Blacks, hovering a 20%.
Can hate against Cuba be so powerful and self damaging?
This is good news. US companies or foreign firms who wish to do business in the US should obey the embargo law or suffer the consequences. Companies that continue to do business with Cuba only serve to fuel the tyranny of the Castro dictatorship. If Obama’s administration were any less than diligent in enforcing the embargo, they would be better served to repeal the law altogether. Reports such as this, hopefully, should have a chilling effect on the remaining companies that hope to circumvent US law and sustain the Castros.