CUBA: Antidote Law will Block Helms-Burton

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Dec 26 1996 (IPS) - Cuba will block the legal processes planned under clause three of the US Helms-Burton Law with the approval and implementation of their own “antidote.”

The Parliamentary National Assembly, which met Tuesday and Wednesday, sanctioned the “Law of Reaffirmation of Cuban dignity and sovereignty,” which declared illegal all action facilitating the fulfilment of the Helms-Burton Law.

The US Law, signed on March 12 by US President Bill Clinton, allowed for legal proceedings to be started against enterprises and entrepreneurs of third countries who deal with former property of US citizens in Cuba.

The Cuban “antidote” ratified the will of the Fidel Castro administration – declared at the time when the US property was confiscated – to reach an agreement with Washington over compensation mechanisms.

At the same time, it decreed that anyone using the mechanisms planned by the Helms-Burton Law would be automatically excluded from any possibility of compensation from Cuba.

The law states that any demand made under the protection of the Helms-Burton Law would be considered null and void independently of the nationality of the petitioner.

Cuba will only recognise cases lodged by people who were US citizens at the time of the confiscation and not those of the “new claimants” – the Cuban exiles who later became US citizens.

The law has declared any form of collaboration, direct or indirect, with the US legislation illegal, including seeking information from any representative of Washington.

The clause on the supply of information is an attempt to block all possible US investigation of foreign investments in Cuba and, at the same time, on former property of US citizens on the island.

US lawyers meeting in Havana on Sept. 17 recognised any court case in the United States would be complicated every time the property deeds were held in Cuba, when access is only possbile with the consent of the government of the island.

The Cuban law planned measures to protect foreign investment on the island – considered one of the main sources of foreign income and a dynamising element for the economy.

The local authorities committed themselves to offering the foreign entrepreneurs the information and documentation required for the defence of their legitimate interests when faced with the dispositions of the Helms Burton Law, said the document.

Measures planned for the protection of investors, include the transfer of income or profits to fiduciary companies, financial entities or investment funds.

According to official sources in Cuba more than 200 joint ventures have been established with foreign capital and more than 600 firms from other countries have been accredited before the Chamber of Commerce on the Island.

The new Cuban law recognises Havana’s petition to Washington for the economic losses due to the economic blockade imposed on the island in 1962. These are estimated to be worth 60 billion dollars.

Similarly, Havana could press charges for the sacking of public funds by Cuban exiles in the United States and compensation for the crimes committed under the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, from 1952 to 1958.

The Justice Ministry will create special commissions to provide a legal forum for Cuban citizens claiming damage to themselves or their families through action initiated or supported by US government.