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Finally, mulas may be sporadic travelers or entrepreneurialtravelers. The sporadic traveler is a person who is approachedby an entrepreneur to arrange delivery of money. Instead ofearning a salary for the operation, their trip is paid for in exchangefor carrying money and in-kind remittances. There are manyindividuals, particularly low-income Cubans and the elderly, whofind this to be a practical and useful means to enable them to visittheir relatives in Cuba. These sporadic or occasional mulas mayonly conduct such operations once a year.It is also important to stress that many of the formal money transferbusinesses make use of the mulas as their distribution networkin Cuba. The main reason for this is that, given the regulatoryconstraints as well as the capital investment requirements toestablish agencies in Cuba, it is more convenient for the licensedbusiness to rely on the mula to deliver the money. In this sense,there is a semi-formal money-transfer process in place.Central to the existence of mulas is trust. People who sendremittances to Cuba rely on mulas because of their reputation,low cost, and relative efficiency in delivering the money withina reasonable amount of time (no more than three days followingarrival to the country, unless outside Havana). The popularconsensus of the work performed by a mula is shared widely inthe community, further reinforcing their reputation. Mulas as wellas sporadic travelers are intertwined in social networks of variouskinds, from neighborhood links to work connections to nationalbonds.Source: Orozco 2002a.In order to ensure efficient reporting, companies have developed databaserecords containing customer information, including recipient’s data.Moreover, companies monitor transactions that exceed a typical amountsent by an immigrant, usually over $1,000. The requirement that immigrantsprovide full identification and contact information for both the sender andthe recipient, which puts the burden on the sender, is key to regulatingtransfers. Despite company compliance, there are still challenges inpreventing money laundering. Because not all remittance companies arefully interconnected, an individual could visit different agencies to send307