#SCOTUS on Thursday sided with #Trump admin backed lawsuits brought by the #HavanaDocksCorporation, a US-owned port business, whose dock front property was seized in 1960 when #FidelCastro came to power in #Cuba & #nationalized #PrivateProperty, possibly opening the door for similar claims from #US companies & individuals.
#law #geopolitics
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/us/politics/supreme-court-cuba-cruises-oil.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
The 8-to-1 ruling in favor of the #HavanaDocksCorporation landed as #Trump is ratcheting up pressure on #Cuba, which has experienced a #HumanitarianCrisis after the #US blocked #oil shipments to the island from Venezuela & Mexico.
The #Trump admin backed the US-owned entity, which sued major cruise lines that were using the confiscated docks. The admin told #SCOTUS such lawsuits…, authorized by #Congress in the 1990s, were an important #ForeignPolicy tool for discouraging investment in Cuba.
Justice #ClarenceThomas, writing for the majority, said those who use property “tainted by a past confiscation” are liable to “any United States national who owns a claim to that property.” Havana Docks, he wrote, only had to show that the cruise lines had used seized property to which the company owned a claim.
Justice #ElenaKagan dissented, saying the docks had belonged to the Cuban government all along & that the company’s interest in the property expired before the cruise lines ever used it.
The #SCOTUS ruling may clear a path for similar lawsuits, but its impact beyond the claims against the 4 cruise lines was not immediately clear. The justices have not yet ruled in a second, similar case involving #ExxonMobil’s claims over its confiscated #oil & #gas assets on the island.
Before the Communist revolution in #Cuba, #US companies owned or controlled 90% of the island’s #electricity generation, its #telephone system, much of its #mining industry, #sugar cane fields, & many #oil refineries & warehouses. When #FidelCastro rose to power >60 years ago, he began confiscating the assets of all US-owned businesses. Most were transferred to state-owned companies controlled by the government.
#US investors filed claims with the US government through the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, an agency at the #DOJ. In 1971, the commission certified the #HavanaDocksCorporation’s claim of $9.1 million, or nearly $100 million adjusted for inflation, which remains unpaid. In total, the commission certified $1.9 billion in claims held by almost 6,000 claimants, or about $9.3 billion in current value, according to the US– #Cuba #Trade & Economic Council.
In 1996, #Congress tightened the #US #trade #embargo after Cuban fighter jets shot down 2 planes flown by members of the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Three US citizens & one permanent resident were killed.
Lawmakers passed the Cuban Liberty & Democratic Solidarity Act, also known as the Helms-Burton Act, which declared that resolution of the property claims were a key condition for restoring economic & diplomatic ties with #Cuba.
The Helms-Burton Act included a provision that provided a path for Americans to sue in federal court over the “trafficking” or use of assets seized by the Cuban government — now the key issue in the #SCOTUS cases.
But the #law gave presidents an on-off switch to suspend the provision & block the lawsuits, which were politically & diplomatically controversial. Presidents of both parties had suspended the provision until the first #Trump admin activated it in 2019.
That change in #policy cleared the way for the #HavanaDocksCorporation to sue the cruise lines for parking at the docks & bringing nearly a million people to Havana. The company built, owned & operated the port facilities in the early 20th century as part of a 99-year agreement with the pre-Castro Cuban government allowing it to operate the port until at least 2004. When the Communist regime took over & seized the docks, the company still had 44 years left in its agreement.
The cruise industry said it had acted lawfully by working with the Cuban government & using the docks, & that it was following the lead of the Obama admin, which encouraged travel to #Cuba in 2016 during a brief period of renewed diplomatic relations.
A federal judge in the Southern District of Florida ruled against the cruise lines in 2022, rejecting their claim that the use of the docks amounted to lawful travel. The judge ordered the 4 cruise lines to pay at least $110 million each.
@Nonilex
Just more colonialism support from SCOTUS. Cruise ships should claim the ship is actually a church and docking at that location is a religious ceremony.
This comes out of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act. The SCOTUS was bound by the law passed by our democratically elected representatives.
