It seems that the solutions begin to emerge between Cuba and the United States. According to a source close to OnCuba, the M & T Bank is negotiating a possible extension of Section of Interests and the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations , to operate with individual bank accounts to avoid the collapse of Cuban consular services announced last November 26.
The period of time allowed is uncertain yet or even in what terms the governments of Cuba and the United States are “actively working “, as the State Department said the day after the close of Cuban consular services, but it appears that the ” normal state” reached so far between the two countries, especially in bilateral travel, is the determinant of this extension.
Since July 12, the Cuban missions in the United States received notice from the M & T Bank of its refusal to continue to provide services to foreign diplomatic missions and gave them “limited time span to end the relationship and find a new bank through which operate ” according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba .
In this release, Cuba demanded compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Consular Relations and the “Agreement of May 30, 1977 which established the Interests Sections in the two countries”, after completing formalities with other institutions banking, foreign and American, who argue their denial based on the restrictions, controls and possible sanctions that the blockade imposed on Cuba by making operations with the island very risky.
The next day, a statement from the U.S. State Department, reviewed by The New Herald newspaper, argued that “We would like to see the Cuban missions again operating fully” and that “The government seeks to help foreign missions in the United States who have difficulty for banking services.”
But days earlier, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, in various public appearances, spoke of the need to update the policy towards Cuba, which could pay off right now, because to follow the situation of inoperability of the Interests Section of Cuba in the United States, the inability to travel to the island on Christmas and New Year may affect the Cuban electorate, with strong political force for decades.
The refusal of M & T also reached the correspondent office of the Prensa Latina News Agency, with over fifty years in the United States, and that from March 2010 had its account in this bank.
