Visa and Mastercard Suspended in Cuba as Trump Widens Sanctions

Visa and Mastercard will cease to function in Cuba from 6 June, the island’s central bank announced on Wednesday, after a foreign financial institution cut ties with a Cuban state entity to avoid falling foul of expanded United States sanctions. The move, which Havana has branded part of Washington’s “strategy of asphyxiation”, marks the most significant concrete fallout yet from an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on 1 May.

The May order, described by experts as the broadest application of Cuba-related secondary sanctions in decades, targets foreign companies that do business with Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), the sprawling commercial arm of the Cuban military. The unnamed bank that had processed Visa and Mastercard transactions terminated its relationship with Fincimex, a GAESA subsidiary, rather than risk exposure to US penalties. Viewed from Washington, the action reflects the Trump administration’s bid to sever the regime’s access to hard currency by pressuring not only Havana but also the network of international firms that have quietly enabled its economic survival.

In Havana, officials portrayed the suspension as economic warfare. The Banco Central de Cuba said the island would be “impossibilitated from receiving income from the sale of goods and services” through internationally recognised cards, dealing a fresh blow to an economy already battered by the pandemic and a tightening embargo. The tourism sector, a vital source of foreign exchange, is particularly vulnerable; the loss of card payments will complicate transactions for visitors and deepen the country’s isolation from global financial architecture.

Analysts in Latin America and Europe note that the measure underlines the growing reach of American unilateral sanctions, which have migrated from a bilateral dispute into an extraterritorial enforcement campaign. The Cuban government’s choice to publicise the bank’s withdrawal—while withholding its identity—suggests a deliberate effort to highlight the coercive effect of US policy and to rally diplomatic support. Looking ahead, the episode is likely to embolden the Trump administration to press further, potentially targeting insurance, shipping, or energy firms that maintain ties to GAESA. For Cuba, the suspension heralds a further retreat from integrated global payments systems, threatening to deepen the hardships of ordinary citizens while the state scrambles for workarounds.