Reconciling U.S Property Claims in Cuba

agreement committed Cuba to pay $850,000 as a global indemnity (with an initial installment
followed by four semi-annual payments) to be distributed by the Government of Canada
to its claimants.
• Interested in attracting foreign investors, the Cuban government recognizes that unresolved
U.S. property claims, and associated U.S. legislation, raise a significant barrier to new capital
inflows. For many non-U.S. multinationals, the Cuban market is too small to risk potential
confrontations with the U.S. government or with U.S. claimants. As with U.S. sanctions more
generally, the unresolved property claims, even when they do not forestall deals entirely, do
raise the costs of doing business in Cuba, and hence prejudice Cuban economic development.
• In so far as Cuba wishes to restore normal commercial relations with the very large market
immediately to its north, the outstanding property claims remain a significant barrier, legally,
politically, and commercially.
On numerous historical occasions, Cuban diplomats have expressed their willingness to include
U.S. property claims in bilateral negotiations. In their account of secret U.S.-Cuban negotiations
during 11 U.S. administrations, Back Channel to Cuba, LeoGrande and Kornbluh record numerous
occasions during which Fidel Castro, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and senior Cuban envoys agreed to
include the discussion of outstanding property claims in an agenda for negotiations. 20 Notably, in the
immediate aftermath of the 1959 agrarian reform law nationalizing large estates, Castro assured
the U.S. ambassador in Havana that he recognized Cuba’s obligation to pay compensation (albeit
based on assessed values for tax purposes and to be paid with 20-year bonds). 21 In his 1963 discussions
with the U.S. journalist Lisa Howard, Castro repeated his readiness to discuss compensation
for U.S. lands and investments. 22
Cuban Claims
“The compensation issue could be decided easily and quickly: simply offset U.S.
claims with Cuban counter-claims! Or else the issue can drag on for years….”
—Senior Cuban Diplomat 23
During his joint press conference with Secretary of State John Kerry, on the occasion of the re-opening
of the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C., Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez underscored
Cuba’s claims:
20
LeoGrande and Kornbluh, op.cit.
21
Ibid, pp. 21-22.
22
Ibid, p. 69.
23
Author conversation with Cuban diplomat, June 2015.
Reconciling U.S. Property Claims in Cuba: Transforming Trauma into Opportunity
Latin America Initiative at Brookings
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