Cuba Restricted List Checker — Search 247 CRL Entities

The CRL is maintained by the U.S. State Department under §515.209 of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations. It lists Cuban government and Communist Party-affiliated entities that U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in direct financial transactions with. The list centers on GAESA (Grupo de Administración Empresarial, S.A.), the Cuban military holding company that controls a large share of Cuba’s tourism economy, and its dozens of subentities — CIMEX, Gaviota, Habaguanex, FINCIMEX, AT Comercial, ALMEST, BFI, and many more.

The SDN (Specially Designated Nationals) list is a Treasury/OFAC-maintained sanctions list covering parties across all U.S. sanctions programs. The CRL is a State Department list covering only Cuba. Crucially, most CRL entities — including GAESA, CIMEX, Gaviota, and Habaguanex — are NOT on the SDN. A clean SDN screen does not mean a Cuban counterparty is safe to transact with. You must check both lists independently, along with the CPAL hotel list.

Examples include: paying for a hotel room at a CRL-controlled property, paying a CRL tour operator, transferring funds to a CRL ministry or holding company, or routing payments through a CRL-listed bank such as BFI. Some transactions are carved out — notably those authorized by §515.578 (telecom/internet), §515.533 (agricultural/medical exports), and certain remittances and educational activities — but the carve-outs are narrow and fact-specific.