Sanctions and the embargo

Title III of the Helms-Burton Act (1996) allows US nationals to file lawsuits in American courts against any entity that 'traffics' in property confiscated by the Cuban government after the 1959 revolution. It was long kept dormant by Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama to avoid diplomatic conflicts with allies like Canada and Spain. Donald Trump activated it in 2019.

The Supreme Court is considering two cases: 1) ExxonMobil vs. CIMEX, in which the oil major seeks over $1 billion from a Cuban state-owned company for oil and gas assets confiscated in 1960. 2) A small dock-building firm vs. Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, and MSC Cruises, for using Havana port facilities that were confiscated before the revolution.

Yes. Although Title III was created in 1996, successive presidents kept it suspended for decades. Only after Trump lifted the suspension in 2019 did a wave of roughly 40 lawsuits begin working through the courts. Today marks the first time the nation's highest court will define the real scope and limits of this law.

The amounts are enormous. ExxonMobil alone is seeking over $1 billion. After Cuba's 1959 revolution, the communist government nationalized US-owned properties — factories, sugar mills, oil refineries, power plants — worth billions in today's dollars. Dozens of pending lawsuits could be shaped by the Supreme Court's ruling.

Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, Cuba's permanent representative to the UN, stated that the island has 'plans and resources' to face a total blockade by the United States and that in the Cuban people's mentality 'the word surrender does not exist'.