Miami man who says he's rightful owner of Havana's airport sues American Airlines

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald


BY NORA GÁMEZ TORRES
SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 06:44 PM

In an anticipated legal case, American Airlines on Wednesday became the first air carrier to be sued for conducting business on properties confiscated by the government in Cuba, despite having obtained authorization from the Barack Obama government to fly to the island.

The federal lawsuit, which also includes Chile’s LATAM Airlines, was filed in Miami on Wednesday by José Ramón López Regueiro. He is the son of José López Vilaboy, a businessman close to Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista who was the owner in 1959 of what is now Havana’s José Martí International Airport before it was confiscated by the revolutionary government led by Fidel Castro.

According to the lawsuit, filed by the Rivero Mestre law firm, López Vilaboy bought the land of the Rancho Boyeros airport from its previous owner, Pan American Airways, in 1952 for $1.5 million in cash. The Cuban businessman then modernized the runway and built the airport terminal that he renamed José Martí.

. . .

A Florida court declared López Regueiro his father’s legitimate and only heir. In addition to the airport, López Vilaboy was a shareholder of the airline company Cubana de Aviación, and owned a newspaper and a hotel, among other properties. All were confiscated by the Castro government, which accused him of having exploited his relationship with Batista to obtain loans from the government and sometimes act as the “frontman” of the Cuban leader.

López Vilaboy denied the accusations in a memoir.


Read more: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article235480742.html

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From left on the right, Alfredo Hernández, consul of Cuba in
New York, José López Vilaboy, president of Cubana and
James J O´Brien, representative of the mayor of New York,
on May 15, 1956



The lawyers of the law firm Rivero Mestre, Nick Gutiérrez (i), Manuel Vázquez (2i), and Andrés Rivero (2d), and José Ramón López Regueiro (d), sole heir of businessman José López Vilaboy, who also owned Cuban Aviation, during a press conference held Wednesday at the office headquarters in Coral Gables, near Miami, Florida. EFE / Giorgio Viera

[LeftInTX]

1. Weird...He claims he owns the airport?

How much renovations have been made since 1959? The international terminals were built in the 1980s and they fly 747s. You need upgraded runways and infrastructure to fly 747's.

[Sherman A1]

3. There may have been upgrades

However if the ground under those upgrades belonged to this individual, he may have a legitimate claim. The courts will decide upon the validity of his arguments not us or the media.

[Skittles]

2. shouldn't this just be Florida Man?

yes indeed

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Wonder how Americans would feel if our government decreed

Native American tribes could sue to regain property taken from them by US military?

[Blue_Tires]

6. But that isn't the comparison...

This is like Native Americans suing a random Applebee's for making money on stolen land...

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Exactly. So how do you think American land/property owners

would feel about allowing that to happen? The US decided to allow Cuban exiles to sue over property taken by Cuban government decades ago

[Coventina]

5. Corrupt loser looking for a payday.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. Revolutions have consequences. No pay, Jos.

And I hope he has to pay American Airlines' legal fees.

Estafador.

[sandensea]

9. Vilaboy should go back to his villa, and stop hijacking U.S. policy for his benefit.

Cuban exiles seem to think they're the only Latin Americans - indeed, the only people on earth - who ever lost businesses and property due to expropriation or other government malfeasance.

As I know they're aware, there are thousands of cases of businesspeople who lost everything to right-wing dictatorships.

And I'm sure that if any of them tried taking their case to a U.S. court, these Cuban exiles would be in the front row laughing their furry butts at them.

Just ask the many Argentine-Americans who left after losing almost everything during the last dictatorship (which many Cuban exiles applauded - and still do).

They lost their estates and businesses to either a kangaroo court - at the behest of some competitor who happened to have connections with the regime.

Or simply because the terms of loans they took out were suddenly (and illegally) rewritten by some right-wing official, who glibly felt "there are too many businesses in this country, and we should cull the herd."

Many thousands lost years - sometimes generations - of work, and had to start over in the U.S. or Spain.

But they don't try to hijack U.S. policy for their benefit - and nor should anyone else.

Least of all Miami Cubans.

[Eugene]

10. Amazon sued for marketing charcoal produced on land seized by Cuba in 1960s

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 / 6:38 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO

Amazon sued for marketing charcoal produced on land seized by Cuba in 1960s

Sarah Marsh
4 MIN READ

HAVANA (Reuters) - A Florida resident is suing Amazon (AMZN.O) for marketing charcoal produced on land he says Cuba confiscated from his grandfather after the 1959 revolution, the latest in a recent slew of lawsuits regarding the island piling up in U.S. courts.

The lawsuit was filed in Florida on Thursday, the day after another was filed accusing American Airlines (AAL.O) and the Latam Airlines Group (LTM.SN) of trafficking in stolen property for using Havana’s international airport.

Such lawsuits were allowed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s activation in May of a controversial provision of the 1996 Helms Burton Act that had been waived by every previous president due to opposition from the international community and fears it could create chaos in U.S. courts.

So-called Title III allows U.S. citizens, including Cuban Americans, to file lawsuits against both Cuban entities and foreign companies over property seized after 1959.

In the lawsuit filed on Thursday, Daniel Gonzalez says he is the rightful owner of 2,030 acres of land in Cuba’s eastern Granma province that were nationalized in 1964.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-usa-amazon/amazon-sued-for-marketing-charcoal-produced-on-land-seized-by-cuba-in-1960s-idUSKBN1WB31J