When Monica Bustelier noticed thousands of dollars missing from her bank account in late August, the owner of the Little Havana Cafe food truck figured it was just a technical glitch. But the story behind the missing money turned out to be a remarkable one, full of twists and turns which eventually led back to a recent decision by the Trump administration and one of the world’s longest-running trade blockades — the American embargo on doing business with Cuba. For Bustelier and her partner Joshua English, the realization came slowly. At their three-year-old food truck — actually a revamped vintage 1962 trailer — most customers pay via credit or debit, using the Square mobile payment system created by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. Usually, money would show up in their account a few days after a customer would buy a rich, strong cafecito, or cafe con leche.Then, in late August, the payments stopped coming. To date, Toronto-based Little Havana Cafe is out roughly $14,000.“We kept getting the emails saying ‘Square has deposited $750 into your account.’ But then we’d go and look, and it wasn’t there,” said Bustelier, who was at first puzzled, then concerned.They called Square, who told them to call their bank. Their bank said no deposit had been made.“We went back to Square and they looked again, and said it was a problem with their payments processor. Then finally, they checked again, and said J.P. Morgan Chase couldn’t process it because the embargo was tightened in the last month or two, and we were selling Cuban coffee,” said Bustelier.“Square’s been pretty supportive since they found out what the issue actually was. But they still said they had to close our account. They’re trying to help us get our money, but we still don’t know if or when that will happen,” said Bustelier.Square spokesperson Leslie Jackson said the company has been in touch with Bustelie ...
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