Spanish Chain Meliá Hit With $10 Million Lawsuit For Its Cuba Hotels Under U.S. Helms Burton
Photo by: Gary Raynaldo / The Spain-owned Meliá Cohiba hotel across from Malecón sea in Havana, Cuba
By Gary Raynaldo / DIPLOMATIC TIMES
Descendants of former Cuban businessman Rafael Lucas Sanchez Hill have filed a lawsuit in Spain against the Meliá that seeks to recover $10 Million as indemnification for Cuba lands seized by the government in 1960, after Fidel Castro seized control of the island. President Trump opened the door last month for lawsuits over Cuban confiscated properties. The Trump administration announced last month it is allowing former owners of commercial property expropriated by Cuba to sue companies and the Cuban government for using or “trafficking” in those confiscated holdings. The Spanish newspaper El Confidencial reported that it was the first lawsuit ever filed in Spain by Cuban Americans against Spanish companies that benefit from expropriated properties in Cuba. The lawsuit follows the Trump administration’s full implementation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act on May 2. The law allows owners of properties confiscated by the Castro Revolution to file suits in US courts against entities that “traffic” in those properties. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. won’t renew a ban on litigation that had been in place for two decades. The Trump administration activated, in May, Title III of the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD). Lawsuits are now allowed in American courts against Cuban companies using property seized during the 1959 revolution. However, Spanish hotel chain Melia Hotels International, in anticipation of the new U.S. policy, issued a statement last month, essentially rejecting the latest American sanctions against Cuba that harden the 60-year economic, financial and trade blockade on the island. Melia states that it legitimately operates in Cuba.
Meliá Cuba Operations Backed By The European Union
Spanish hostelry giant Meliá International is expanding its hotels in Cuba. Meliá has added 5 new hotels with a total of 409 rooms to its portfolio in the Caribbean island in the first quarter of 2018. According to Meliá, the Spain-based hotel company will operate 2,145 new rooms in Cuba by the end of 2018 with plans for additional properties this year.
Photo by Gary Raynaldo / Towering, gleaming luxury 401-room Meliá Cohiba Hotel located in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba, just off the Malecón. The hotel opened in 1994. The hotel is a joint venture between Meliá International and the Cuban State.
Photo Credit by Gary Raynaldo / The Spain-owned Meliá Cohiba hotel sits across from Malecón sea in Havana.
Brussels Vows To Protect The Interests Of EU Companies Doing Business In Cuba.
“The decision by the United States to renege on its longstanding commitment to waive Title III of the Helms-Burton (LIBERTAD) Act is regrettable, and will have an important impact on legitimate EU and Canadian economic operators in Cuba. The EU and Canada consider the extraterritorial application of unilateral Cuba-related measures contrary to international law. “
-Joint statement by High Representative / Vice President Federica Moghernini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Chrystia Freeland, Apri. 17, 2019, Brussels.
“We are determined to work together to protect the interests of our companies in the context of the WTO and by banning the enforcement or recognition of foreign judgments based on Title III, both in the EU and Canada. Our respective laws allow any US claims to be counter-claimed in European and Canadian courts, so the US decision to allow suits against foreign companies can only lead to an unnecessary spiral of legal actions.”
