Cuba is fully cut off from Visa and Mastercard as of June 6, 2026

The Central Bank of Cuba confirmed that cards issued on Visa and Mastercard stopped working in the country on June 6, 2026, after a new U.S. presidential order severed Cuba from financial flows. For PSPs, acquirers, and travel-facing merchants, the practical point is simple: if your routing depended on those networks in Cuba, it is gone with no transition period.

1. Visa and Mastercard stopped processing any transactions in Cuba, affecting both local users and tourists. The ban took effect on June 6, 2026, with no grace period.
2. The Central Bank of Cuba tied the cutoff to a new U.S. presidential order. The source does not name the order, but the operational result is clear: American payment rails are now off the table in Cuba.
3. The cards that still work are Mir (Russia) and UnionPay (China), which remain the main alternatives on the island. For local settlement and day-to-day spend, Cuban national prepaid cards Classic and Tropical are also still in use.
4. Cash in foreign currency remains accepted, specifically dollars and euros, but with restrictions. That matters for merchant acceptance and cash-heavy fallback flows, especially where card authorization can no longer be relied on.

For high-risk operators, Cuba is now a clean example of how quickly network access can disappear when sanctions policy changes: one day a card rail is usable, the next day it is not. If your business touches travel, remittances, or on-island acceptance, the routing and fallback stack needs to reflect that reality.