After a two-year halt, Western Union has quietly resumed money remittances to Cuba through a pilot program with the hope of expanding its operations in the future, the company says, a much-anticipated step that provides Cuban American families with a more reliable way to help their families on the island.
“It is with great pleasure we announce the resumption of our Cuba operations with an initial testing phase of outbound service from the U.S. to customers with Cuban bank accounts via select U.S. Agent locations,” said Gabriella Fitzgerald, the president of Western Union’s North America division.
“The close connection between our U.S. customers and their families living in Cuba together with the role our services play in helping create better lives, are inextricably linked,” she said. “We are delighted to offer this critical connection once again for our customers.”
Before Western Union suspended operations in 2020, experts estimated that remittances were the country’s second-largest source of revenue and that the company held a large chunk of that market. The money sent by Cubans in the U.S. and Cuban Americans is a lifeline to many families on the island, which is going through the worst economic crisis since the Soviet Union collapsed.