Mem­ber­ship ware­house club op­er­a­tor PriceS­mart has sus­pend­ed its ser­vices to Cuban diplo­mats in T&T, Guatemala, Bar­ba­dos, Pana­ma, and El Sal­vador, Pren­sa Lati­na re­port­ed. PriceS­mart El Sal­vador gen­er­al man­ag­er Ri­car­do Os­o­rio in­formed Cuban au­thor­i­ties by let­ter that PriceS­mart is a sub­sidiary of a US com­pa­ny.

Os­o­rio was quot­ed as say­ing the gov­ern­ment of the Unit­ed States does not al­low US com­pa­nies to sell or do busi­ness with cit­i­zens of Cu­ba, who are not per­ma­nent res­i­dents in the coun­try where PriceS­mart is op­er­at­ing.Il­iana Fon­se­ca, Cuban am­bas­sador to El Sal­vador, said the move shows the "vi­tal­i­ty and rough­ness of the block­ade" and of its "ex­tra-ter­ri­to­r­i­al char­ac­ter." She said the diplo­mat­ic per­son­nel present no dan­ger to the US.