Deliveroo had gone two months without paying the restaurant due to bank measures stemming from the embargo. Pressure on social media has resolved a problem that was affecting 30% of the Cuban Sandwich Factory’s revenue.
14ymedio, Madrid, September 3, 2026 / Carlos Argüelles can finally breathe easy. This Cuban, proprietor of the Cuban Sandwich Factory restaurant in downtown Belfast, has endured a harrowing few days after making a difficult yet necessary decision: to suspend home deliveries, which accounted for up to 30% of his company’s revenue. Deliveroo, the British platform responsible for the delivery, had barely paid him for two months due to US sanctions, but the pressure of the last few hours has secured him a victory.
“They paid us! Muchísimas gracias to the wonderful people of Belfast for their solidarity. Thank you to the journalists who listened to our story. Thank you to Deliveroo for putting pressure on Citibank. It’s amazing how quickly things can be resolved thanks to the power of the people, but it’s unbelievable that a sandwich shop in Belfast could be affected by Trump’s sanctions,” he posted on social media on Wednesday, just hours after the Northern Irish press published his story.
Argüelles has lived in Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) for 28 years, half of them in the capital, where his business was thriving until this past June. Since that month, Deliveroo stopped making payments after the bank increased its measures against individuals and companies linked to Cuba. The accumulated debt had already reached more than 7,000 pounds – about $9,500 – and threatened the company’s finances.
Argüelles has been living in Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) for 28 years, half of them in the capital, where his business was thriving until this June.
“Trump is trying to make things difficult for anyone or anything related to Cuba, even a small sandwich shop in Belfast,” the businessman denounced, “sad and angry,” after making the decision to suspend home delivery.
“It’s a terrible situation, as it’s also affecting my orders. I’ve had to cancel some of them with my suppliers. Meat, bread… everything will be affected. It’s not a good situation,” he told the Northern Irish press. In addition, the non-payments were having consequences for the staff, whose wages—and actual work—depend heavily on these orders and their delivery.
“This isn’t Deliveroo’s fault, but the fault of the US bank that makes the payments. It seems there’s an automatic block as soon as the word ‘Cuba’ appears,” he explained in several interviews.
The food delivery company uses the Stripe payment processor, which, like other US financial institutions, employs a filtering system for individuals of Cuban nationality or companies where the word “Cuba” appears, in order to avoid sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The measure is primarily preventative and doesn’t always result in the denial of the transaction, but rather in increased scrutiny that delays delivery. This “over-compliance” can be fatal for businesses like that of Argüelles.
“For almost two months we have not received regular payments from Deliveroo UK. (…) With no guarantee of any payment date or that we will actually be paid, it is unsustainable for us to continue. If we did, it could, in fact, result in the permanent closure of Cuban Sandwich Factory,” the company wrote in a statement on social media this Tuesday. In the statement, the company reminded customers of its phone number, which can still be used to place orders for pickup at the restaurant. “We greatly appreciate all the love and support from the people of Belfast,” it added.
It wasn’t the first time Argüelles had faced such a situation, although the scale hadn’t been this great. During Trump’s first term, there had already been problems with the company. On that occasion, the Deilveroo representative asked him to prove he had residency in the United Kingdom, where he had arrived decades earlier to marry a woman born in nearby County Antrim.
Deilveroo’s representative asked him to prove he had residency in the United Kingdom, where he arrived decades ago to marry a woman born in nearby County Antrim.
What had been resolved that time seemed to be at a standstill this time. Deliveroo wasn’t responding to the Northern Irish press about the situation, although Argüelles said his representative had advised him to be patient and not withdraw. “But I felt I had no other option. Between 20% and 30% of the losses come from them. I spoke with many restaurant owners and they haven’t been affected, so now it’s my fault for being Cuban. I have family members in Cuba affected by the same thing.”
The outcry and support from their customers has worked, and all indications are that the business will continue offering delivery as before, although Argüelles has asked that the solidarity received be extended to his compatriots on the island. “Please keep the people of Cuba in mind, because their struggle against Trump’s actions is much greater and cannot be resolved so easily with the power of social media.”
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