ING Bank, the Latest Victim of the US Blockade Against Cuba

Dutch bank ING became the latest victim of the U.S. blockade against Cuba by the U.S. Treasury Department imposing fine of $619 million for facilitating trade with the Caribbean island.

This is the highest fine so far by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury, which is in charge of monitoring the implementation of sanctions against other countries, said a press release agency, Prensa Latina.

Along with financial penalties, ING will conduct an internal review of its operations, policies and practices to demonstrate to Washington that this type of conduct by its employees is not repeated, it said.

This is not the first time that the entity in the Netherlands is affected as a result. In 2010, ING was subjected to a criminal investigation on the suspicion of having trade relations with Cuba, Iran and Syria, countries against which the northern nation applies a rigorous commercial blockade.

Two years ago, OFAC penalized four banks for a total of just over $502,721,000.

Most of the fine went to ABN Amro Bank, also of Holland, which was punished by the exorbitant figure of $500 million for unauthorized financial transactions in which Cuba or Cuban nationals had an interest.

These actions are a few on a long list showing the extraterritoriality of the blockade, which has intensified despite the fact that President Barack Obama has proclaimed a change in Washington’s policy toward Havana.

The United States has maintained for 50 years an economic, commercial and financial blockade that has cost the Cuban people more than $975 billion and is a violation of the U.N. Charter and norms of international law.

In successive vote of the U.N., the international community has condemned for 20 consecutive years this interventionist and extraterritorial policy of American power against a small nation in the West Indies.