Western Union
Financial Services (Canada), Inc
330 Bay Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario
M5H 2S8
330 Bay Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario
M5H 2S8
Dear Madam/Sir,
I’m writing to you on behalf of the Association of Cubans
Resident in Toronto “Juan Gualberto Gómez”. We are very concerned that starting
today, we can no longer send money to Cuba. This restriction negatively affects
our ability to help our relatives in the island, and therefore affects our
family ties.
In October 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department´s Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) put into effect a new regulation that limits to
no more than one thousand U.S. dollars per quarter the remittances that a U.S.
citizen can send to relatives in Cuba. However, there are no prohibitions or
restrictions in place in Canada to send money to Cuba, and even there are
specific legislations, such as the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act
(FEMA) of 1985 and the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Order of 1992, which
prohibit a Canadian corporation, including Canadian subsidiaries and branches
of U.S. companies, as it is the case of Western Union Canada, to comply with a
Cuba-related extraterritorial measure of the United States.
We believe that Western Union Canada recent decisions and
practices concerning transfers of money to Cuba violate our rights as Canadian
citizens, as well as Canadian law. We respectfully request to receive an
explanation from your company on this matter.
Sincerely,
Julio Fonseca
Association of Cubans Resident in Toronto “Juan Gualberto Gómez”
asociacion.jgg@gmail.com
