Trump to put 'game changer' pressure on Cuba, says Mario Diaz-Balart

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has signaled that Americans who decades ago had property stolen by Fidel Castro’s regime and sold to other foreign companies may soon be able to sue those companies to recoup their losses. That will intensify financial pressure on the island government, according to Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, and have ripple effects for authoritarian states around the world.

“This is a very, very big deal,” the Florida Republican and Cuban-American told the Washington Examiner. “I think really good things are coming from this. And so, you can't minimize the impact.”

Pompeo hasn’t given the green light for those lawsuits to proceed, at least yet. The lawsuits have been authorized by the so-called Helms-Burton law since 1996, but they haven’t been filed because every president in the last 23 years has suspended the ability of Americans to use that language. That suspension typically lasts six months at a time, but Pompeo jolted Cuba watchers and investors last week by issuing a new suspension that will last a mere 45 days.

“We call upon the international community to strengthen efforts to hold the Cuban government accountable for 60 years of repression of its people,” Pompeo’s team added in a note accompanying the suspension. "We encourage any person doing business in Cuba to reconsider whether they are trafficking in confiscated property and abetting this dictatorship.”

That brief announcement raises the prospect of widespread lawsuits against companies that invest in Cuba, if Pompeo declines to issue another suspension when the 45 days are done in March. Diaz-Balart said allowing the law to take effect would help Americans win compensation from property that was taken from them during Castro's revolution.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/trump-moving-to-put-game-changer-pressure-on-cuba-says-mario-diaz-balart