Western Union confirms suspension of remittances to Cuba

Western Union confirmed it had temporarily suspended remittances from the United States to Cuba more than a week ago, blaming what it described as technical issues with processing transactions there, Report informs, citing Reuters.

Western Union said its services had been disrupted since January 28. Several other companies which offer similar services have also reported outages in recent days, paralyzing a lifeline for Cubans suffering through the worst economic crisis in decades. Cuba's state-run Banco Metropolitano and Fincimex have also reported outages.

"The technical issues exist with the processing of transactions on the island," a Western Union spokesperson said in an email. "Western Union operations are stable, hence, this being an isolated issue with money transfers sent from the US to Cuba only."

Cuban officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the outage.