HAVANA—Havana on Thursday protested recent U.S. government fines
levied against two banks found to have enabled countries subject
to U.S. sanctions, including Cuba, to make prohibited
transactions through American financial institutions.  In a
statement, the island's Foreign Ministry called the penalties
"unjust and illegal" and noted that they came on the heels of a
U.N. vote in which world nations once again voted overwhelmingly
to condemn the 50-year-old U.S. embargo against Cuba.  The bank
fines "demonstrate that the U.S. policy of ferocious prosecution
of financial and commercial transactions targeting Cuba and
those who maintain a legitimate relationship with our country
under the protection of international law not only has not
changed, but has hardened," the statement read.  On Dec. 11 it
was announced that London-based HSBC had agreed to pay $1.9
billion in penalties to end a U.S. probe. The London-based bank
was found to have processed transactions that let Mexican drug
cartels launder money and all