HAVANNA, Cuba -- Cuba is planning to ban the use of U.S. dollars on its communist Caribbean island in answer to tighter U.S. sanctions.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro announced his decision Monday, during a nationally televised address.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said Castro's move demonstrates U.S. sanctions on Cuba are working.
"It's squeezing the regime and causing them to take extreme measures that underscore its own inherent weaknesses," deputy department spokesman Adam Ereli said.
The decision by Castro -- to go into effect in November -- is in response to Washington's decision in May to tighten its more than four-decade-old embargo against Cuba. The move limits the amount of money Cuban-Americans can send to friends and family back home.
Greenbacks became currency in Cuba in 1993 when the collapse of the Soviet Union forced the island to accept dollars for commerce and particularly tourism reasons.
