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Publicado: Lunes, 30 October 2017 22:06

Letter to the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
29 October 2017
The Rt. Hon Sir Alan Duncan MP
Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH
www.gov.uk/fco
Dear Sir Alan Duncan MP
Subject: GoFundMe and Stripe block funds that ‘benefit’ Cuba or Cubans
I am writing to draw your attention to another violation of an elementary right of Cuban residents in the UK to help our country of origin.
For the second time our community project ‘Send a piano to Cuba’ has been victim of the extra-territorial implementation of sanctions of the United States Blockade against Cuba, and companies operating in United Kingdom, such as Eventbrite, GoFundMe and Stripe have obstructed our fundraising campaign.
On 19 March 2016 our association Cubanos en UK (Cubans in the UK) wrote to the Foreign Secretary and the FCO to report the confiscation of £360 by the company Eventbrite from the sale of tickets for a fundraising classical music concert. Eventbrite argued that this was: ‘pursuant to US Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC) regulations and sanctions program’.
In a letter dated 5 July 2016, Jonathan Williams, Head of the FCO’s Mexico, Cuba and Central America Team Americas Directorate replied to Cubanos en UK:
‘The UK, along with the rest of EU, has consistently voted in the UN General Assembly against the embargo. We also support the EU’s position that US sanctions should not apply extraterritorially, including here in the UK.
On 19 April, FCO Minister of State, the Rt Hon. Hugo Swire MP, raised our objections about the extraterritorial effect the US embargo on Cuba was having on trade and investment between the UK and Cuba, with US Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson. In January FCO and HM Treasury officials met the Financial Conduct Authority to discuss what we could do to support British entities, such as Cubanos en UK, experiencing difficulties conducting financial transactions with Cuba. We will continue to raise our objections with the US, and to discuss this issue with officials at HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.’
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Publicado: Sábado, 11 June 2016 10:02

by Jesús Arboleya
HAVANA — Cuba is not China; that, we all know. What’s to explain, then, the unusual interest of U.S. companies in the Cuban market?
A U.S. producer of grain gave me an answer years ago: “It’s the only country in the world that delivers the daily bread to 11 million people.” Nevertheless, as true as this assertion is, it’s insufficient to explain what goes on. The matter is a lot more complex.
In a world where the development of commerce depended in good measure on the military domination of territories, the United States — during the first century of its existence — tried to expand within its own land borders. Attempting it beyond the seas was barred to the U.S. by the scant development of its naval force.
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Publicado: Martes, 24 May 2016 11:13

British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond with his counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla in Havana, April 2016.
Letter sent to Philip Hammond
Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP
Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
King Charles Street,
London, SW1A 2AH
22 May 2016
Dear Philip Hammond
Eventbrite UK confiscates funds that ‘benefit’ Cuba or Cubans
During your official visit to Cuba in late April you confirmed the British government’s opposition to the United States blockade. Consequently, we are calling on you to intervene in this important issue directly.
On 12 March 2016, British-based Cuban pianist Eralys Fernández held a classical music benefit concert, with support from an association Cubans living in the UK, as part of a fundraising project to donate a piano to a music school in Havana. The concert title was: A piano for Cuba – Fundraising Classical Music Concert. To sell tickets for the concert we opened an account with www.eventbrite.co.uk, through which we sold 36 tickets at £10 with an extra £1.74p charged by website for each ticket. Note that while Eventbrite is a US company this website is based in the UK, so its status is not clear to its customers.
Following the concert, Eventbrite informed us that: ‘We were contacted by our bank to let us know that the pay-out we initiated on 17 March 2016 for £360 has been temporarily held’. They wanted to know of ‘any direct or indirect benefit to Cuba or a Cuban in this transaction’. This is blatant discrimination against Cuban people living in Britain, being denied access to services or products based on ethnic or national origin.
A month later, Eventbrite confirmed that the ticket money was withheld ‘pursuant to US Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC) regulations and sanctions program’ – in other words the US blockade. ‘In order to have the funds released’, advised Eventbrite, ‘you will need to obtain a license from the US Treasury Department’. Why should we, as British citizens of Cuban origin, apply for a licence from a US institution? There are no sanctions against Cuba in Britain.
In addition, we have been advised by US Attorney General of Iowa, Tom Miller, that:
‘Under current US Government regulations any humanitarian projects with respect to Cuba do not require a specific license from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Treasury. Pianos can be donated to Cuba under a "General License", which does not require permission. Furthermore, US laws do not apply to Britain, so there would be absolutely no prohibition for an organization in the UK or Europe donating pianos to Cuba.’
As you are aware, both British and European law regulates against the extra-territorial application of the US blockade. In 1996, the European Council adopted Regulation (EC) No. 2271/96 on ‘protecting against the effects of the extra-territorial application of legislation adopted by a third country, and actions based thereon or resulting therefrom.’ Also in 1996, the British Parliament approved Order No. 3171 relating to the Protection of Trading Interests Act on ‘The Extraterritorial US Legislation’, which enables the British government to penalise any natural or legal person complying with extraterritorial aspects of US blockade on British territory.
In December 2015, the British Treasury responded to a question by Lord Hutton, about the ‘advice…given to UK banks regarding business and personal financial transactions between UK individuals or UK-registered companies and Cuban counterparties based in Cuba.’ The answer was: ‘There are no UK, EU or UN sanctions regimes restricting transactions between the UK and Cuba. The US has economic sanctions against Cuba. EU legislation (Council Regulation [EC] No 2271/96) provides protection against and counteracts the effects of the extra-territorial application of US Cuba sanctions within the EU.’
On 15 March 2016, just prior to President Obama’s visit to Cuba, OFAC announced amendments to controls on financial transactions, including permitting US banks to process Cuba related US dollar denominated transactions where neither the sender not the beneficiary of the transactions are subject to US jurisdiction.
In a similar case very similar to our own, on 20 April 2016, a district court in Dortmund, Germany, issued an order against US payment system PayPal for applying US laws in the country. This legal precedent should be emulated in Britain. We would like to see British institutions finally take a legal and political stand against the extra-territorial application of OFAC regulations, which affects any British citizen or resident attempting to relate to Cuba via any US-linked entity, no-matter where it is based.
Eventbrite have now refused even to return the ticket money to the purchasers. In other words, that money has been stolen. Clearly this is a violation of our rights. We urge you to take action and look forward to hearing the results of that action.
Thank you in advance.
Yours sincerely,
Daniesky Acosta
Director of Cubanos en UK
www.cubanos.org.uk