On Feb. 7, 1962, then President John F. Kennedy signed into law a U.S. commercial, economic and financial embargo against Cuba. The situation, a byproduct of Cold War threats to U.S. security, changed in December 2014 when the Obama Administration ordered that diplomatic relations with Cuba be restored and that a half century of isolationism and mistrust that had failed to serve U.S. interests should come to an end.

Even prior to the change, however, the Cuban government had been handing over land and business interests to cooperative groups of worker-owners as a way to get some operating expenses on its books. Co-ops began to blossom, first in agriculture, then in a wide variety of enterprises.

U.S. cooperative leaders said they're betting the establishment of credit unions won't be far behind the other co-ops, and groups and individuals have begun queueing up for a new period of cooperative economic enterprise in Cuba.

“We believe that as Cuba evolves, the seven cooperative principles will become part of the DNA of much of Cuba's economy,” Mike Beall, president/CEO of the National Cooperative Business Association/Cooperative League of the United States of America, said during a March 10 press conference in Wash., D.C. “And this will be good for the American consumer.”

The NCBA/CLUSA press conference, held at the National Press Club during the GAC, introduced the organization's U.S.-Cuba Cooperative Working Group, designed to find ways to help Cuba establish and enhance its cooperative business. However, financial cooperatives such as credit unions, Beall said, may be among the most difficult ones to launch.

“My sense is that the financial segment has seen the least evolution by the government to loosen up on its controls,” Beall, former president/CEO of both the Missouri Credit Union Association and Maryland/D.C. Credit Union Association, said during a subsequent interview. “For U.S. credit unions, the OFAC regulations are stringent and come with lots of civil money penalties. Removing Cuba from the terrorism watch list will be central for connections between the U.S. and Cuban financial institutions.”

In July 2014, Beall led an NCBA/CLUSA research group to Cuba specifically to look at agricultural co-ops, the most mature of any of the country's emerging cooperative businesses. A second visit, which the organization is planning for August 2015, will likely include credit union representation, Beall said.

“Everyone is getting optimistic about the growing relationship between Cuba and the U.S. if the two governments can get things worked out,” Beall said. “At NCBA/ CLUSA, we're obviously positioning ourselves as advocates of good governing principles.”

Credit unions may be the economic half-step Cuba needs in its evolution from a communist country moving closer to free-market enterprise, according to Patrick La Pine, president/CEO of The League of Southeastern Credit Unions and a participant in one of the NCBA/CLUSA March 10 press conference panels. Given the establishment of the right type of governance, credit unions can provide Cuba with a more acceptable, if not more familiar approach to financial services, he said.

“I don't see Cuba rolling out the red carpet for Citibank, Chase or Bank of America,” La Pine said. “Cuba understands the cooperative model, although they might wonder what's in it for us. We're trying to do this because we have a track record for establishing credit unions around the world.”

La Pine and others have cited credit unions' rapid emergence and market dominance in post-communist Poland as an example of how quickly credit unions can capture the interest and allegiance of a public wearied by a totalitarian regime. Although it's evolving, Castro's communist regime is still in place, but the country offers advantages in spite of its challenges, he explained.

“We have a number of Cuban American credit unions already operating in the U.S., so there will be few cultural gaps to overcome,” La Pine said. “I think if you look at what we've done in countries such as Poland, there are good examples of credit unions making a difference.”

The NCBA U.S.-Cuba Working Group steering committee contains several credit union executives, including Carlos Calderon, president/CEO of the $175 million Organization of American States Staff Federal Credit Union in Wash., D.C. The committee hasn't yet defined a strategy, but is still in the research mode, Calderon said.

“One of the issues is that the Cuban government is developing new regulations for co-ops slated for adoption next year,” Calderon, whose ancestry is Bolivian, said. “Until then, we are operating on assumptions and with good will toward the Cuban people.”

Economic support of Cuba's people has been under way for some time in the form of remittances sent by Cuban workers in the U.S. and other countries. In 2009, Cuban-Americans could begin sending as much money home as they wanted, and by the end of 2014, annual remittances to Cuba totaled $2 billion from the U.S. alone, according to reports in CNN Money and The Havana Times.

Much of this money was used to support fledgling cooperative enterprises now in the hands of workers-owners who found it difficult to find sources of business loans. Cuba now has some 500,000 people with state-issued private business licenses, CNN reported, providing a fertile market for credit union development.

Neither OAS Staff FCU nor JFCU participate in any formal remittance programs to Cuba at this time, but both Calderon and Kucey are primed to become part of Cuban credit union development efforts in any capacity they can.

This is especially true for JFCU: It boasts a board and supervisory committee that are 25% Cuban and membership that is 35% Cuban.

“As of right now, all but five of our 62 employees speak fluent Spanish,” Kucey said. “We also have a branch in Puerto Rico, where 100% of the employees are Puerto Rican and approximately 80% of our membership base there is Puerto Rican.”

Most of the credit union's membership is enthusiastic about new, more open relations with Cuba, and what split there is occurs along generational lines, Kucey said. Older Cubans who may have originally fled their home country with nothing more than the clothes on their backs are less excited about the change, but the negative feelings tend to remain the minority view, she added.

“Our specific niche, and we're certainly not the only credit union doing this, comes in serving recent Cuban immigrants, most of whom qualify as low income,” Kucey said. “We take pride in serving that demographic, even though it is a lot of work.”