Some Cubans are pleased that they target the “regime’s front men” who managed to open bank accounts in the US
14ymedio, Madrid, September 30, 2026 / Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez sought solace in irony with a post on his X account about the new restrictions imposed by the US on travel and financial operations. “Less than 24 hours ago, the Secretary of State said that ‘Cuba has already fallen,’ and it turns out that now he needs to apply additional measures,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs wrote shortly after the new document became known.
“The US Government issued another wave of blockade measures against the Cuban people. Among them, they eliminate people-to-people exchanges and further limit academic and research exchanges. Also, the prohibitions on private entities in Cuba doing business directly with the US and US banks are reinforced, in addition to the prohibition of U-turn transactions. Indirect operations with entities on the State Department’s unilateral list of restricted entities are prohibited,” the foreign minister summarized.
In his opinion, this package attempts “to obstruct the process of economic transformations underway” and “openly attacks both the public sector and the private sector, the one that some US officials say they want to help develop.”
In his opinion, this package “openly attacks both the public sector and the private sector, the one that some US officials say they want to help develop”
The measures take effect this very Wednesday and have been described by the official press as proof of the “cynicism of the US claims that its actions are aimed at the Cuban Government, since they limit US citizens, who are prevented from traveling freely to Cuba, and threaten the private businesses of Cuban citizens, in addition to the direct effect they have on the people’s standard of living.”
Readers of the official press have cried out against the new measures, which, in their view, confirm the existence of constant persecution. “Gentlemen, good thing the blockade doesn’t exist and that we don’t develop because we’re bad and inefficient…,” wrote one reader. “What will those who hoped that the remedy for our ills would come with the fall of the revolutionary government, or that the right thing was to negotiate our freedom, independence and sovereignty, think now? How naive!” says another.
Some have attributed it to the proximity of the November elections in the US. “These measures have only one first name: DESPERATION. And a last name: IMPOTENCE. Time is running out for the Trumpists against Cuba, the nut is about to jam because it can’t turn any further, and the bolt doesn’t break,” stresses another user. Only one has pointed to the consequences that the restrictions imposed on accounts in the US will bring for the majority of the population.
“With this new batch of sanctions, the window that allowed Cuban private entrepreneurs to buy all kinds of products in the United States is closing; although these were later sold in national currency at exaggerated prices with high and abusive profit margins, making them impossible for the majority to acquire, at least they existed and, in the complete absence of the State, supplied the bodegones and shops of neighborhoods and cities with products, many of them basic necessities,” he wrote.
Opinion among some Cuban entrepreneurs differs. Yulieta Hernández, a Havana engineer and entrepreneur, asked on social media: “What business owner managed to open an account?” The responses mostly went in the same direction and, although there were some who objected that she seemed to justify or minimize the consequences of the US measures, they pointed to a kind of privileged few as the only ones harmed. “We all know who,” “The front men,” or “The ones from before. The ones from now. The same ones as always,” proliferated among the comments.
We all know who,” “The front men,” or “The ones from before. The ones from now. The same ones as always,” proliferated among the comments
On the scarcity of accounts opened by Cubans in the US, they agreed with what had been pointed out hours earlier by Oniel Díaz Castellanos, founder of the consulting firm Auge, who in any case did note that the bad news lay more in the signal it sends as a brake on the future.
The modifications approved this Tuesday indicate that a specific license – and not the general one – will be necessary for a Cuban to open accounts in the country. Operations that allowed US banks to act as intermediaries in transactions between Cubans residing on the island and companies or individuals located in other countries will also be left without authorization.
In addition, travel restrictions are included: trips may only be made “under the auspices of an organization also subject to US jurisdiction” and in the company of “a representative of the sponsoring organization.” Group educational “people-to-people” exchange trips are also dropped from the list, although family visits, currently the largest source of tourism for Cuba, are still allowed.
Last week, the Associated Press agency reported that White House sources had told it about a draft with possible changes to travel, although the aim of the restrictions was to carry out “stricter controls” on regime officials, with the alleged purpose of preventing Bruno Rodríguez from being at the United Nations on the day the resolution against the embargo is voted on. For the moment, nothing is known about this specific point.
Translated by GH
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