Cuba criticizes U.S. sanctions against Italian bank

HAVANA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Cuba on Monday denounced the United States for imposing a fine on an Italian bank for operating with the island, saying it demonstrated Washington's "insolence" in the treatment of its European partners.

"The extraterritorial application of this measure demonstrates the insolence with which the United States treats its European partners and sets a negative precedent for other institutions to trade with Cuba," said the Cuban Foreign Ministry in a statement.

The U.S. Office for Foreign Assets Control imposed the Italian bank Intensa Sanpaolo a fine of nearly 3 million dollars for making 53 transfers to the island during the period of 2004-2008. It is the second fine in less than a month and the fifth so far this year as part of the commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba since 1962, according to the ministry.

The United States "reinforces the extraterritorial application of the blockade, by imposing fines on foreign and domestic companies operating in third countries," the ministry said.

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