Cuba denounces US food purchases under adverse conditions

Cuban Foreign Trade and Investment Minister Rodrigo Malmierca on Thursday denounced that Cuba is buying food from the United States in unfavorable conditions, and as an example is the recent fine on a US company for allegedly violating the blockade.

Malmierca posted on Twitter that 'US authorities recently lied when they affirmed that Cuba imports medicines from the North-American nation. And while it is true that we buy food, we do so under adverse conditions.'

Malmierca also drew attention to the statement from the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which sets down a $257,862 fine to the US food company Biomin America Inc.

Released on Wednesday, the text reads Biomin America Inc., based in Overland Park, Kansas, agreed to pay the aforementioned amount to settle its possible responsibility for apparent violations of the Cuban Asset Control Regulation (CACR).

According to OFAC, Biomin America Inc. and its subsidiaries abroad were involved in 30 agricultural product purchases conducted outside the United States to be sent to Cuba´s Alfarma S.A. from July 2012 to September 2017, not authorized by OFAC.

The news about the new US Government fine is released as international calls for the Donald Trump administration to lift the blockade against Cuba are increasing as it fights the new Covid-19 pandemic.