ES / EN
- July 12, 2025 -
No Result
View All Result
OnCubaNews
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
OnCubaNews
ES / EN
Home Cuba-USA

Cuban-American teacher’s donations for tornado victims retained

The GoFundMe platform has frozen the money raised by the Cuban-American teacher for the tornado victims.

by
  • Marita Pérez Díaz
    Marita Pérez Díaz,
  • marita
    marita
February 15, 2019
in Cuba-USA
0
Photo: Carlos Lazo's Facebook page.

Photo: Carlos Lazo's Facebook page.

The funds raised by the Cuban-American professor Carlos Lazo and his Seattle students for the victims of the tornado in Havana have been frozen by the U.S. platform GoFundMe since last January 30.

Lazo made public on his Facebook page that for days he has had difficulties accessing the 3,775 dollars donated so far in the campaign he organized through this donation service.

GoFundMe and other similar fundraising services, such as Facebook, require additional information about the destination and use of the money collected for countries sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

“We thought that GoFundMe would be a good way to mobilize students, friends, parents and community to channel our humanitarian efforts. Instead, their organization (on purpose, or by negligence) has almost interrupted our efforts,” said Lazo.

Screenshot of an email of GoFundMe to Carlos Lazo.
Screenshot of an email of GoFundMe to Carlos Lazo.

Lazo explained to OnCuba that the money collected would go directly to the victims affected by the recent tornado in Havana, where he will be going with a group of his students on February 14 as part of an educational trip and cultural exchange.

“Since we started our campaign, I have answered many of the letters from GoFundMe, where they requested more information about our effort,” Lazo said, adding that he gave them every detail they asked for, which at that time allowed them to continue with the campaign.

Related Posts

Flags of Cuba and the United States, seen in perspective in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

Trump reinstates hard-line Cuba embargo as Havana condemns US measure as “criminal”

July 3, 2025
The U.S. Department of State Photo: US Department of State / Archive.

Trump Administration Includes Cuba on List of Countries Not Cooperating Against Terrorism

May 13, 2025
Heidy Sánchez speaks to OnCuba where she is staying in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

Deported and without her baby daughter: Heidy Sánchez’s desperation

May 7, 2025
Photo: EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa.

Joe García: “Justice implies the future. Revenge doesn’t”

April 27, 2025

However, when the funds started being paid out, the subsidiary WePay (which works with GoFundMe) suspended the deposit, says Lazo, and they asked them for more information about what type of products they would buy and who would be the beneficiaries of the funds and donations.

Screenshot of an email of GoFundMe to Carlos Lazo.
Screenshot of an email of GoFundMe to Carlos Lazo.

Lazo sent the information and a list with the names of the people to whom the donations would go. But it did not work.

After that, there were a series of discrepancies between GoFundMe and WePay that continually approved and suspended the funds, in search of more information.

Teacher Lazo

“After almost two weeks since we started this campaign (and after the five days that GoFundMe suspended payments) we still wonder if we will ever receive the funds that people contribute with so much effort and love,” said Lazo.

“It’s really ridiculous, but also inhuman, that you (GoFundMe) are still deciding whether it’s appropriate for a group of American citizens to buy cans of tuna and diapers, or send or give some money to people affected by the tornado (especially when buying diapers and tuna and sending some of those funds is perfectly legal under U.S. law),” said Lazo, directly addressing GoFundMe.

Screenshot of an email of GoFundMe to Carlos Lazo.
Screenshot of an email of GoFundMe to Carlos Lazo.

The GoFundMe platform only operates in 19 countries around the world. These are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

It also calls for a series of requirements to be able to deliver the money, such as checking the identity of the person organizing it and his/her residence in one of the countries allowed.

For the countries that are not allowed, they point out the following:

“We invite you to raise funds for almost anyone in any country. However, if you are in a country where we do not operate yet, then you will be personally responsible for delivering funds outside of GoFundMe. It is important that you define a transparent withdrawal plan in your story.

“Along with that, GoFundMe complies with all U.S. laws, including those established by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, U.S. Department of the Treasury (OFAC). This means that in some rare cases, the sanctions of the United States will forbid us from supporting a campaign for specific countries.

“If this affects your campaign, you can request a license from the OFAC here. Once this is done, our team will help you with the review of your account.”

Lazo, who has been traveling to Cuba for several years and collaborating in diverse educational and cultural projects, argues that OFAC’s general regulations do not prohibit sending money to Cuba or buying food to donate, so he would not need to show GoFundMe a special license.

In January 2011, President Obama took further steps to ease restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba by granting new general permits for travel with educational and religious activities and to restore a specific permit to authorize travel for people-to-people exchanges, something that was reaffirmed in 2016, shortly before his leaving the presidency.

The administration also restored a general permit for anyone from the United States to send remittances to Cuban citizens, which during the Trump administration has been maintained.

The most recent OFAC regulations insist on the prohibition of direct transactions with government companies but do not regulate humanitarian aid to Cuban citizens.

Lazo confirmed to OnCuba that he contacted the advisers of Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, his representative in Washington, to try to politically press against an act that he considers “ridiculous.”

In his post on Facebook, Lazo said he wants to leave behind this chapter with GoFundMe “that started as a dream and has turned into a nightmare.”

“In the future, I will make sure that my friends and my community think twice before trusting GoFundMe. But do not be fooled, in spite of all that negligence, carelessness and obstruction, we will help those Cuban families,” he added.

“The support that so many good people gave to this campaign shows that, in times of terrible disasters, we are all Cuba,” concluded Lazo.

https://www.facebook.com/OnCuba/videos/339660236649385/

  • Marita Pérez Díaz
    Marita Pérez Díaz,
  • marita
    marita
Tags: Carlos Lazocuba-us relationsCuba-USA Relationstornado in Havana
Previous Post

Cuba criticizes OAS conference on constitutional referendum

Next Post

Vedado Social Club, a Cultural Oasis in Miami

Marita Pérez Díaz

Marita Pérez Díaz

marita

marita

Next Post
Carlos Varela in concert with special guest Aldo López-Gavilán on the piano

Vedado Social Club, a Cultural Oasis in Miami

Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez

“I Love My Country and Everything About This Island.”

Economist and academician Carmelo Mesa-Lago during the 12th Conference on Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. Photo: Marita Pérez Díaz.

Carmelo Mesa-Lago: There is a sector that opposes reforms in Cuba

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The conversation here is moderated according to OnCuba News discussion guidelines. Please read the Comment Policy before joining the discussion.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Most Read

  • Long jumper Lester Lescay during his participation in the European Team Championships

    Lester Lescay: “I left Cuba because I didn’t want to spend my youth there.”

    18 shares
    Share 7 Tweet 5
  • Los Palacios, land of Cuban rice harvested by Vietnamese

    13 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • San Juan Hill: heritage in the attic?

    13 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • Trump reinstates hard-line Cuba embargo as Havana condemns US measure as “criminal”

    31 shares
    Share 12 Tweet 8
  • Life on the razor’s edge: the case of Willliam and Viviana

    9 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 2

Most Commented

  • Photo: Kaloian.

    Private sector and tourism in Cuba. Why not?

    12 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • About us
  • Work with OnCuba
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Moderation policy for comments
  • Contact us
  • Advertisement offers

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}