The Central Bank of Cuba announced that on November 8, after ten years of use after post-Soviet reforms, dollars are no longer to be accepted or used, in what the Bank calls an attempt to retain control of the Cuban Economy, as the U.S. attempts to close off many foreign sources of Cuban capital (the Cuban peso cannot be used for international commerce). Cubans can still possess dollars, and may transfer them into pesos for a charge of 10%, a charge that will not be applied to foreign currencies, which prompted aide Carlos Valenciaga to instruct Cuban-Americans giving remittances to relatives to send them in foreign amounts.