US economy

US to allow lawsuits over properties seized in Cuba


The US will begin to allow lawsuits against companies using properties confiscated decades ago by the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro.

The move, which could expose US and European businesses to legal action, comes as Washington ratchets up pressure on Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro, whom the Trump administration has long accused Cuba of supporting.

The law, known as Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, is an existing piece of legislation allowing Cuban-Americans and US citizens to sue foreign companies in possession of confiscated property. It has been fully waived by US presidents for more than two decades, however, and has never before been enforced.

Announcing that the Trump administration would no longer waive the law, effective May 2, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the waiver was seen in Cuba as “weakness”.

“The Trump administration recognises reality,” said Mr Pompeo. “Tyranny in the region has only gotten worse because dictators see appeasement as weakness, not strength.”

Mr Pompeo added that Cuba’s “behaviour in the western hemisphere” directly affected US national security interests, accusing Havana of “exporting repression”.

Kim Breier, assistant secretary of western hemisphere at the US state department, said the foreign claims settlement commission at the justice department had already certified around 6,000 claims for Cuban property, with a value of $8bn including interest. Ms Breier said the commission was aware of a further 200,000 claims, which could be equal to a value of “tens of billions of dollars”.

The announcement is likely to add to a growing number of foreign policy disagreements between the US and its allies in Europe. The EU has already signalled its disagreement with the US’s position, suggesting that it could lodge a challenge with the World Trade Organization.

Ms Breier said that while the US and its allies were in agreement on the need to “promote democracy”, they were “sometimes in disagreement” on the method. “European companies operating in Cuba will have nothing to worry about if they are not operating on property stolen from Americans,” Ms Breier said.



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