Photo by Gary Raynaldo / Vintage American automobile in Havana, Cuba 

By Gary Raynaldo   DIPLOMATIC TIMES

The future of U.S. engagement with Cuba is at risk if the Trump Administration allows a policy that would subject U.S. and foreign companies to lawsuits for “trafficking” in confiscated Cuban property. That is the opinion of the Engage Cuba Coalition, which describes itself as “a national coalition of private companies, organizations, and local leaders dedicated to advancing federal legislation to lift the 55-year-old Cuba embargo in order to empower the Cuban people and open opportunities for U.S. businesses.”  The policy would allow thousands of Cuban Americans to sue foreign companies and others who now control real estate on the island that was seized from them by the Cuban government. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Congress last June 2018 he intends to suspend a section of the Helms-Burton Act,  beginning August 1 for six months, that allows former owners of commercial property expropriated by Cuba to sue companies and the Cuban government for using or “trafficking” in those confiscated holdings.  Now, Pompeo is saying the Trump administration will  suspend Title III again, but only for a month and a half instead of the six-month suspension that has been constantly renewed since 1996.

“On January 16, the Trump administration declined to waive Title III of the Helms-Burton Act for the full six months, opting instead for a shorter 45-day period beginning February 1. The administration has signaled that they are evaluating options for activation or partial activation. Activating Title III would incite litigation that could have a crippling effect on U.S.-Cuba trade,” Engage Cuba Coalition stated.

Currently, there are 5,913 certified claims of seized American property in Cuba. Based on the number of living Cuban Americans whose property was seized, the State Department estimates there could be a flood of up to 200,000 claims if the suspension were ended, according to Engage Cuba Coalition.  “The tidal wave of litigation that could result from Title III going into effect would not only burden the U.S. court system and fail its objectives, it could have disastrous effects for the U.S.-Cuba relationship, U.S. businesses, and relations with our allies,”  ECC  stated.

U.S. Secretary Of State’s  Determination of 45-Day Suspension Under Title III of LIBERTAD Act

Credit: U.S. Department of State / Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

In explaining the 45-Days Suspension, the Department of State said: 

“This extension will permit us to conduct a careful review of the right to bring action under Title III in light of the national interests of the United States and efforts to expedite a transition to democracy in Cuba and include factors such as the Cuban regime’s brutal oppression of human rights and fundamental freedoms and its indefensible support for increasingly authoritarian and corrupt regimes in Venezuela and Nicaragua. We call upon the international community to strengthen efforts to hold the Cuban government accountable for 60 years of repression of its people. We encourage any person doing business in Cuba to reconsider whether they are trafficking in confiscated property and abetting this dictatorship.”