U.S. blockade zeroes in on Cuban student at Harvard
WASHINGTON — The cancellation by the Bank of America of the bank account held by a Cuban student at Harvard University reaffirms the cruelty of the economic blockade that the United States has imposed on Cuba for more than half a century.
The most recent discriminatory measure, adopted against Elaine Díaz, professor of journalism at the University of Havana and the first Cuban to be awarded a Nieman fellowship by Harvard, was exposed Friday (Dec. 12) by a New York Times article under Ernesto Londoño’s byline.
According to the newspaper, Díaz opened an account in Bank of America — which included debit and credit cards — upon arriving in Cambridge, Mass., last August. There, she deposited the money she needed to cover her university expenses.
This month, The Times says, the bank notified Díaz that she could not do business with her unless she submitted documents that identified her as a Cuban citizen who emigrated permanently to the United States.
“Our records indicate that you are a citizen of Cuba, a country that is the subject of comprehensive economic sanctions,” says the letter sent by Bank of America to Díaz, confirming that the bank could not grant bank accounts to Cubans who held temporary visas.
The New York Times article stresses that, although the U.S. Government authorizes financial transactions related to professional exchanges between the two countries, many banks have opted to forgo business with Cubans on the island, deeming it an unnecessary responsibility.
Other Cuban professors who have taken part in the professional and cultural exchanges have had their bank accounts frozen, which renders them unable to access their stipend payments.
The Times cites the case of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, which faces a similar problem, after the M&T Bank this year ceased to handle the finances of the Cuban diplomatic mission.
The newspaper says that Díaz is trying to find a way to receive her payments by check for the rest of her one-year fellowship, instead of the prohibitive direct deposit that the bank is now denying her.
According to The Times, an acquaintance of Diaz’s suggested to the young professor at the School of Social Communications in Havana that she should ask for political asylum in the U.S. “to fix the problem at hand.”
“Your life will be easier,” the acquaintance told her, according to an exchange she relayed on Twitter.
But Elaine, sure of herself, responded: “Not in this life and certainly not in the next one.”
(From Prensa Latina)
