THIS past June 12, the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a fine of $619 million levied on the Dutch banking institution "ING Bank."

The U.S. government unilaterally sanctioned the ING Bank, along with its subsidiaries in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Curacao, for processing financial and commercial transactions for Cuban entities, prohibited by the criminal U.S. blockade of Cuba.

This is the largest fine ever imposed by OFAC in its history, for alleged violations of regulations established in accordance with sanctions unilaterally imposed by the U.S. on various countries.

Announcing the measure, OFAC director Adam Szubin, used threatening and disrespectful language and once again made clear the extraterritorial and interventionist nature of the U.S. policy, when he said, "Our sanctions laws reflect core U.S. national security and foreign policy interests and OFAC polices them aggressively. Today’s historic settlement should serve as a clear warning to anyone who would consider profiting by evading U.S. sanctions."

The government of Cuba denounces this new outrage, which constitutes a mockery of the worldwide demand that the United States put an end to its policy of blockade against Cuba.