Havana, February 27 (RHC)—The money transfer service Western Union announced Thursday that it has suspended all financial transfers to Cuba, except those from the United States, as a result of Washington's escalation of sanctions against the island.

This was informed to several clients at service points of that firm Havana. Last month, the company announced that "due to the unique challenges of the service that operates remittances from countries outside the United States to Cuba", Western Union may lose its capacity to operate transactions to the island.

This is one more step in the policy of tightening the U.S. blockade, aimed at strangling the Cuban economy with the declared purpose of causing discouragement and for citizens to blame their government for the hardships resulting from such unilateral measures.

Last October, the Donald Trump administration limited the sending of remittances to one thousand dollars per quarter and per person.

As part of Washington's measures, the island has suffered from fuel shortages since September 2019 when the normal cycle of tanker arrivals was broken as a result of U.S. harassment of shipping and insurance companies.

The White House has punished the Cuban companies Cubametales and Corporación Panamericana S.A. for their purchases of energy carriers.