Havana/La Financiera de Cimex (Fincimex) announced this Tuesday that it will be possible to receive remittances in dollars in cash through the state Exchange Houses (Cadeca). With several exclamations, the corporation, sanctioned by the United States and belonging to the Business Administration Group (Gaesa), of the Armed Forces, indicated on their social networks: “Remittances in cash dollars! From all over the world, in minutes! Now, at Cadeca, you can receive your cash remittances in USD.”
In a phone call to Cadeca’s central office, an employee responded to this newspaper that “they are still studying it” and ordered to contact Fincimex “about receiving cash.” The Exchange Houses, he asserted, have not yet implemented it. And he concluded: “We have to wait.”
No such thing would be said about Fincimex’s enthusiastic and brief statement. In it, it also indicates that “you could always, at your discretion, deposit them totally or partially into your Clásica account,” referring to the Cimex card, the tool created by Gaesa to collect dollars, and that allows you to pay at gas stations and state stores in Cuba, in addition to wholesale services. such as buying cars and imports.
“The good news is always for you, because if I need cash from the same card they don’t give it to me, plus what they deduct for putting it in.”
If this modality is chosen, they will offer, they say, “additional discounts and advantages”, although they are ruled out when purchasing gasoline. Asked about this by a user, the financial company responds that these discounts will be, depending on the business, between 4% and 10%.
Cash payment of remittances on the Island is nothing new and is made directly at the beneficiary’s home. In fact, companies such as Cubamax, Cuballama, Sendvalu or Bagalso do it – recently authorized by the Central Bank–, apart from Gaesa and its subsidiaries, sanctioned by the United States.
Not only for that, but because the lack of cash in the countryhundreds of comments on the post of Fincimex express their suspicions towards the new measure. “The good news is always for you, because if I need cash from the same card they don’t give it to me, except for what they deduct for putting it in,” says Ivan Betancour. The corporation responds by insisting: “It is good news for remittance beneficiaries to access a remittance in USD.” cash“, to which another commentator emphasizes: “That must be why the sale of USD in the cadecas is stopped. Since January 28, that line has not walked.”
“Is there cash now?” asks Livan Orelly, who ends up having an exchange with Fincimex, with a laugh. “The service is activated based on the Classic service and its demonstrated collection capacity,” says the state company, and Orelly returns to the charge: “Demonstrated capacity the same as gasoline with Classic and there is no gasoline.”
Users come to express all the doubts that any ordinary Cuban can ask. When does the service start? How much do you charge for commission? From which countries can this remittance be sent? What will be the exact procedure? These are some of them. “The advertisement is very incomplete,” summarizes an elderly woman from Central Havana with a daughter in Spain. “If putting money into the Clásica is a headache, with the few places there are, the blackouts, the connection problems, I don’t want to see receiving a remittance and putting it in the Clásica in the same operation.”
Another Facebook commentator thought along the same lines: “If it is a day of payment for retirees, it is for pleasure, because between the queues and the blackouts and the crashes of Cadeca’s computer systems, the headache for that type of action is immense.” Fincimex gave another optimistic response: “It will gradually expand to other networks.”
