Havana: Fincimex, an internationally recognized and respected commercial company, pays the beneficiaries all of the remittances sent, without withholding or any tax on the amounts managed, the general manager of that entity, Yamil Hernández, said.
In an interview published by Cubadebate, he said that it is false that the Cuban government or the armed forces kept 20 or 40 percent of the money sent to Cuba from the United States, as politicians from that country keep repeating.
He insisted that the amounts sent were not subject to any tax when entering Cuba and the recipient receives the full amount remitted.
Hernández remarked that Fincimex is a commercial company like many others in Cuba, recognized and respected in the international remittance industry, which maintains relationships with important financial entities in several countries and provides this service with money sent from different parts of the world.
Its results are public in accordance with Cuban regulations for corporations and the Mercantile Registry, he specified.
He recalled that in October 2020, the US government banned Western Union?s relations with the Cuban institutions in charge of processing remittances, specifically Fincimex.
With that action, it unilaterally put an end to the flow of remittances through regular and institutional channels, with which the government of Donald Trump thus gave continuity to a policy aimed at penalizing the standard of living of the Cuban population on the basis of totally unfounded and unscrupulously reiterated pretexts, he said.
The official clarified that Western Union sent remittances to Cuba, through a scheme that charged the sender in the United States five dollars for every 100 remittances sent to the island as a commercial commission, while paying Fincimex one dollar for every 100 remitted, a payment for services rendered, which is a common practice in that industry.
He also denied that Fincimex is a military entity, nor are any of its workers, so it is false that they belong to the armed forces since their income is part of the country?s general resources and is destined to the maintenance and operation of the company itself -including its technological infrastructure- and to contributions to the national budget and the economy as a whole.
Hernández commented on those in the United States who propose to send remittances without the participation of the Cuban government and, in particular, of Fincimex, operations which are arranged and organized by each country in its national territory as it best determines, complying with its own laws and international regulations.
?This is a sovereign prerogative. The United States cannot dictate that to any country. Pretending to do so is a violation of International Law.’, Hernández asserted.
In relation to the consequences of the interruption of these shipments through formal and institutional channels, he noted the increased difficulty and costs of receive them, which negatively impacts the standard of living of the recipients and on the pockets of those who send them, since now they are sent for more than 30 dollars for every 100 sent to Cuba and through irregular channels.
Another consequence is the increase in uncontrolled currency transfers from the United States to Cuba, something that is never positive and goes against what the international community is trying to organize and regulate.