Major multinationals exit Cuba as US sanctions intensify

Cuban citizens face economic hardship through job losses in tourism and hospitality sectors, reduced access to international financial services, and declining foreign currency earnings.

In the early summer of 2026, Cuba finds itself at the edge of a deeper solitude — not by sudden decree, but through the quiet departure of the companies that once served as its last threads to the global economy. Meliá Hotels, Visa, and Mastercard have withdrawn from the island, each exit a consequence of renewed US sanctions designed to make the cost of engagement with Cuba unbearable for any multinational with exposure to American markets. What is unfolding is less a dramatic rupture than a slow closing of doors, each one shutting with the logic of risk calculations made in distant boardroom

Major multinationals exit Cuba as US sanctions intensify

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