My friends from Cuba, who regularly send money to their families, now have to pay a surcharge to Castro's government.
I honestly wonder if Castro didn't impose this penalty and outlaw the dollar out of some sort of twisted revenge for falling down on stage and embarrassing himself a few weeks ago. And I'm surprised this hasn't happened before.
What was the reason for this change?
The reason for the change was to strike back at President Bush's limiting travel to Cuba. Americans of Cuban descent, as well as unnaturalized Cuban immigrants traveling to Cuba was a huge source of income for Fidel.
When the President clamped down on the practice, Fidel clamped down on the use of the dollar as a currency in Cuba in an effort to harm those within family in the US.
It cost the President a few percentage points of the vote down here, but it was well worth it IMHO.