Carnival Corp. is the first U.S. company sued for using 'stolen' property in Cuba

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Kansas City Star


BY DAVID SMILEY AND NORA GAMEZ TORRES
MAY 02, 2019 11:11 AM, UPDATED 5 HOURS 13 MINUTES AGO

Carnival Cruise Lines was hit Thursday with unprecedented lawsuits filed by businessmen who for decades have sought justice after their families’ properties were seized by Fidel Castro nearly 60 years ago.

The Miami-based cruising conglomerate was sued in federal court by Mickael Behn and Javier Garcia-Bengochea, both of whom hold claims certified by the federal government for assets confiscated shortly after the Cuban Revolution. The lawsuits — made possible by a historic change in policy under the Trump administration — seek millions in compensation for the use of buildings and docks where Carnival’s cruise liners have anchored following Barack Obama’s efforts to normalize relations with the Castro regime.

. . .

Trump, like every president before him over the last 23 years, had previously declined to allow the pursuit of Helms-Burton claims in the name of furthering diplomatic relations with the Cuban government. But he pivoted last month amid a toughening stance on leftism in Latin America.

Now, Behn and Garcia-Bengochea are demanding millions that, according to the U.S., has been owed them for nearly 50 years. Both men hold claims certified by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Foreign Claims Settlement Commission in the early 1970s.

Read more: https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article229919294.html

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Compare what was happening between Cuba and the US only three years ago:

DECEMBER 7, 2015 / 5:57 PM / 3 YEARS AGO
U.S., Cuba to negotiate billions in claims against each other
Daniel Trotta
3 MIN READ

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban and U.S. officials on Tuesday will begin to untangle one of the most complex obstacles to normalization of relations between the two countries: the claims of Americans whose property was nationalized after the 1959 revolution and Cuban counterclaims for damages caused by the U.S. trade embargo.

The talks in Havana are the latest in a series of bilateral meetings since the two former Cold War adversaries restored diplomatic ties in July this year.

. . .

“The meeting is the first step in what we expect to be a long and complex process, but the United States views the resolution of outstanding claims as a top priority for normalization,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Monday.

Cuba nationalized all foreign businesses and reached settlements with owners from other countries. The government recognizes the U.S. claims but it cut off negotiations in response to the decision by former President Dwight Eisenhower to suspend Cuba’s sugar quota in 1960.

More:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-usa/u-s-cuba-to-negotiate-billions-in-claims-against-each-other-idUSKBN0TQ2W020151207

[Judi Lynn]

1. Vital information which has always been completely whitewashed:

The Cost of Covert Operations in Cuba
U.S. sanctions and economic sabotage over the last half-century have caused significant damage to the Cuban economy. What does this mean for ongoing claims negotiations between the two countries?

Louis A Pérez, Jr.
December 16, 2016

The United States and Cuba advance toward normalization of relations slowly, with all deliberate speed in measured increments. The announcement of the resumption of diplomatic relations in December 2014 was followed with the re-opening of embassies in Havana and Washington the following summer. Travel restrictions in both directions were relaxed. Regularly scheduled flights resumed. A host of small steps ensued: limits on remittances from the United States were lifted, direct mail service began anew, FedEx introduced cargo service to Cuba, Verizon and Sprint inaugurated roaming services. All in all, U.S.-Cuba relations are assuming more and more the appearance of normal.

But much remains abnormal. The embargo remains in place. The Cuban Adjustment Act remains in force. The United States remains in Guantánamo.

And U.S. claims and Cuban counter-claims remain pending. The negotiations for a satisfactory settlement of competing claims are currently underway “as part of normalization,” the Department of State indicated. For the United States, the matter of compensation is straightforward, and has to do principally with outstanding claims of U.S. nationals related to 5,913 properties nationalized by Cuba after January 1, 1959. The U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission assessed the outstanding principal at $1.9 billion, atop of which was added six percent interest. In addition, a total of $2.2 billion in ten state and federal court judgments against Cuba also remain pending.

Cuba does not dispute the proposition of compensation for properties nationalized after January 1, 1959. The Cuban government has in fact previously settled its outstanding claims with other countries, including Spain, France, England, and Canada, according to the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review. However, U.S. claims are complicated by Cuban counter-claims, making everything, the New York Times observed, “trickier”—or, as Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno indicated, “a matter of highly elevated complexity.” Cuba advances compensation demands of its own as adjudicated by national courts, a sum totaling $181 billion. Cubans’ claims derive principally for indemnification for economic damages attending U.S. policy, advanced by Cuba and understood by the United States as “embargo claims.”

More:
https://nacla.org/news/2016/12/16/cost-covert-operations-cuba

[yaesu]

2. tRump is sure great for businesses in the country, maybe they will think twice about

supporting the orange nazi next time.

[groundloop]

3. Those 2 men claim to have owned the Port of Havana????

Furthermore, US cruise ships have only been going to Cuba since 2016.

I see this as a case of opportunistic profiteering that's going to backfire.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Insane. Surely hope that will happened. It's shameful. n/t