{"id":4117,"date":"2021-04-27T12:24:09","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T12:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/?p=4117"},"modified":"2021-04-27T12:24:13","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T12:24:13","slug":"for-fear-of-us-authorities-you-hear-cuba-and-swiss-banks-immediately-stop-the-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/for-fear-of-us-authorities-you-hear-cuba-and-swiss-banks-immediately-stop-the-transfer\/","title":{"rendered":"For fear of US authorities You hear “Cuba” – and Swiss banks immediately stop the transfer."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Medicuba organization is denied, time and again, money transfers.\u00a0Its president, Franco Cavalli, speaks of an infamous vileness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“The banks probably have a guilty conscience because of tax evasion”: The Ticino doctor and former SP National Councilor Franco Cavalli.
Photo: Jean-Christophe Bott (Keystone).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At some point in the telephone conversation Franco Cavalli is outraged. Even very indignant. The former parliamentarian of the Swiss Socialist Party in the canton of Ticino, and faction leader, says: \u201cIt is vile. It is not more than that. It is an infamous vileness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 78, Cavalli, a cancer specialist, is a very busy man. Among other things, he is the president of Medicuba Europe, a Swiss NGO with sections in 14 European countries, which provides medical aid to the socialist island. Medicuba recently bought antibiotics from a small pharmaceutical company in western Switzerland to ship to the Caribbean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has an account with the UBS bank.\u00a0When Medicuba wants to pay for his purchases by transfer, the bank sends the money back, with reference to the American embargo on Cuba. Obviously, the institution fears reprisals from the other side of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please note it is a transfer from the Swiss Medicuba account to another Swiss account.\u00a0No money flows to Cuba or the USA.\u00a0For the rejection of the transfer order, it is obviously sufficient that\u00a0the word ”\u00a0Cuba\u00a0”\u00a0appears\u00a0in the name of the organization. Even when Cavalli proposes to make the transfer from his own personal account, the bank rejects it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retired Bern doctor Raffaele Malinverni is a board member at Medicuba Switzerland.\u00a0”\u00a0Sometimes the branch of a bank sends a certain amount back, while another branch of the same bank accepts the money without any problems,\u00a0”\u00a0says Malinverni.\u00a0One can never foresee the reactions of the banks, but the two big banks Credit Suisse and UBS, the Basler Kantonalbank and its subsidiary Cler and occasionally other cantonal banks are frequent objectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donations are also rejected<\/strong>
Often banks also refuse to transfer membership fees and donations to the organization.\u00a0Roland W\u00fcest, who works\u00a0as a coordinator\u00a0at Medicuba\u00a0, writes on request:\u00a0“By no means all refused payments are reported to us.\u00a0Roughly I would say that\u00a0ten\u00a0payments are affected\u00a0per month\u00a0.\u00a0That means around 15 percent of all transfers to us.\u00a0“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of antibiotics, the pharmaceutical company from western Switzerland has to open a special account at Postfinance so that Medicuba can pay the amount owed.\u00a0Malinverni says:\u00a0”\u00a0Somehow you always find a solution, but it takes time and nerves every time.\u00a0“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Medicuba aid organization, founded in 1992, has four employees, and the Directorate for Development and Cooperation (SDC) carries around a third of its annual budget of CHF 800,000.\u00a0In Cuba, the NGO cares for autistic children, it is active in HIV prevention, carries out minimally invasive surgery for cancer\u00a0and\u00a0enables Cuban intensive care\u00a0physicians to receive\u00a0further training in Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The banks say that our humanitarian commitment is actually great.”<\/p>Raffaele Malinverni, doctor and board member at Medicuba<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Malinverni explains that <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Every time we protest at a bank about the refused payments, they say that our humanitarian commitment is great\u00a0–\u00a0but it is the way it is.\u00a0“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you ask banks, the answers are similar.\u00a0The magic word is\u00a0”\u00a0reputational risk\u00a0”\u00a0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“UBS monitors business activities in the area of \u200b\u200bpayment transactions very closely and clarifies the risks associated with a payment before it is approved”, writes the press office of the big bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basler Kantonalbank justifies itself by stating that the banks have to take into account the risks from cross-border service business, in particular foreign sanctions, in their business activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Swiss organization Medicuba supports Cuba’s health system.\u00a0
Here a doctor measures a patient’s blood pressure before he receives the Cuban vaccine against Covid.
Photo: Adalberto Roque (AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In January Medicuba sent a notification to the\u00a0financial market\u00a0regulator\u00a0Finma.\u00a0It lists numerous cases of refused transfers, combined with the requirement\u00a0to take\u00a0\u201c\u00a0appropriate measures\u00a0\u201d\u00a0against the banks concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On request, Finma writes:\u00a0”\u00a0Financial institutions must analyze, minimize and appropriately control the legal and reputational risks that can arise from foreign law.\u00a0Which measures the banks use to implement this is the responsibility of the banks.\u00a0“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No American works at Medicuba<\/strong>
Medicuba has also had a legal opinion prepared by the Washington law firm Robert L. Muse, which is available to this newspaper. It concludes that referrals to the organization never in any way violate the US embargo for several reasons. Medicuba is a humanitarian organization, its headquarters are outside the USA, the transfers are not in dollars and do not flow into the USA or Cuba. There would also be no Americans on the organization\u2019s board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bern lawyer Willi Egloff, who represents Medicuba legally, considers the practice of Swiss banks to be illegal, at least in the case of cantonal banks.\u00a0“These are public law institutions.\u00a0If you refuse to serve a Swiss citizen, you are violating the prohibition of arbitrariness,\u00a0“says Egloff.\u00a0But he will not complain.\u00a0Medicuba had to spend the money on smarter things than litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franco Cavalli suspects that the Swiss banks are so over-anxious about the US because they used to help American tax evaders with their dirty business without hesitation\u00a0–\u00a0an overcompensation out of a guilty conscience at the expense of humanitarian engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Cuba is also fighting the pandemic: a doctor in Havana and waiting patients.
Photo: Ramon Espinosa (AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A remarkable\u00a0thing recently happened in the Foreign Affairs Commission of the National Council.\u00a0The majority of them agreed to a postulate according to which the Federal Council should work for a relaxation of the US embargo and for smooth payment transactions between Switzerland and Cuba.\u00a0At the beginning of March, the National Council referred the matter\u00a0–\u00a0thanks to the approval of the Left and, surprisingly, the FDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Even today, a majority of the Cuban population would vote for the Communist Party.”<\/p>Hans-Peter Portmann, Zurich FDP National Council.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The decisive factor for this was the Zurich National Councilor Hans-Peter Portmann, President of the Parliamentary Group Switzerland Cuba and a great lover of the island.\u00a0For all the criticism and all the political differences at the Castro regime is\u00a0Portmann\u00a0convinced that even a majority of the Cuban population today\u00a0would choose Communist party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franco Cavalli doubts that the Federal Council or the banks will be impressed by Parliament’s decision.\u00a0After\u00a0all,\u00a0a postulate\u00a0is little more than a pious wish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note from Granma: The National Council (Lower House) of the Swiss Parliament endorsed on March 9 the active role of Switzerland in order to end the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States.\u00a0\u00a0to Cuba, by approving, by 98 votes, a postulate in that sense, proposed by the Foreign Policy Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Article published in the Swiss newspaper Berner Zeitung.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Medicuba organization is denied, time and again, money transfers.\u00a0Its president, Franco Cavalli, speaks of an infamous vileness At some point in the telephone conversation […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuba","category-featured"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5514,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/exclusive-interview-dr-franco-cavalli-president-of-medicuba-europa\/","url_meta":{"origin":4117,"position":0},"title":"EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Dr. Franco Cavalli – President of MediCuba-Europa","author":"Editorial Team","date":"November 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Cuba Support Group Ireland is a Member of mediCuba-Europa and the donations given by our supporters either directly through our www.cubasupport.ie website link or through #WalkingForCuba are channelled through the mediCuba-Europa Swiss based network to meander past the US blockade into Cuba. 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If you have difficulties making bank transfers, you can advise Maribel, either by telephone or email: infocubadublin@eircom.net INFORMATION REQUIRED\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tornado-en-cuba-27-1-2019.jpg?fit=629%2C420&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tornado-en-cuba-27-1-2019.jpg?fit=629%2C420&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tornado-en-cuba-27-1-2019.jpg?fit=629%2C420&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3xdTY-14p","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Franco-Cavalli.jpg?fit=2001%2C1333&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}