Resumption of banking services for Cuban office, a good step towards US-Cuba diplomatic relations

HAVANA, Cuba, May 21 (acn) Some US media have hurried to announce that a North Miami bank has agreed to open an account for the Cuban Interest Section in Washington, a services that the office has not had for one year now.

Although no official statements have been issued in that regards either by US or the Cuban authorities, were the event a reality it would help advance bilateral dialog underway May 21 in Washington and favor the process to reestablish relations.

The resumption of the banking service has been a major demand by Cuba to set up embassies in the two countries, along with the withdrawal of the island from the US blacklist of countries sponsors of international terrorism, which could be announced next week following the decision by President Barack Obama to do so.

"It would be almost impossible to open a regular, normal embassy in Washington, a Cuban embassy, without a bank," said the general director of the United States Division at Cuba´s Foreign Ministry, Josefina Vidal in statements to ABC News recently. Vidal is heading the Cuban delegation to the third round of talks in Washington.

According to the Florida-based Sun Sentinel, Stonegate Bank, in Pompano Beach, has agreed to open an account for the Cuban Interest Section. The newspaper says that bank executives agreed to provide the services, as affirmed by a US State Department source, but bank executives have not wanted to comment on the issue.

The Cuban Interest Section previously used the services of , M&T Bank of Buffalo, N.Y., but the bank stopped handling accounts for foreign governments. That meant that visas at Cuba's Washington office had to be paid in cash, for example, the sun sentinel explained.

Actually, US banks denied opening an account for Cuba as they were concern for the punishment they could be subject to under the US over-50-year economic, financial, and commercial blockade of the island.

Stonegate Bank, started in 2005 in Fort Lauderdale and led by veteran banker Seleski, has grown fast in recent years, partly by buying and merging with other banks, the latest being Community Bank of Broward.

Stonegate has 10 branches in Broward and three in Palm Beach County. In all, Stonegate has 21 offices on the east and west coasts of Florida, according to the bank's website.