New York, February 1, 2022. Since its entry into force in 1996, the Cuban Democratic Freedom and Solidarity Act, also known as Helms-Burton, codified the blockade against Cuba and strengthened its extraterritorial reach, aimed at internationalizing the blockade through coercive measures against third countries, in order to hinder and interrupt their trade and investment relations with Cuba.
With the purpose of suffocating the Cuban economy and increasing the needs of the population, the Helms-Burton Act has emerged as a mechanism through which the US government exercises illegal and brutal pressure, not only against Cuba, but also against governments and companies from third countries. Their claims are illegitimate, in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and International Law.
Its title II obliges the United States government to present a report to Congress on the steps taken with the international community to strengthen the blockade against Cuba.
Title IV, also applied on various occasions, denies entry into the United States to businessmen from third countries who do business with Cuba that in some way relate to legally nationalized properties.
Finally, Title III allows the former owners of properties that were nationalized in Cuba, including Cuban citizens who eventually became Americans, the possibility of suing before the courts of the United States those natural and legal persons who in some way had contact with said properties, which the law qualifies as “traffic”.
The possibility of suing the supposed beneficiaries of “trafficking” had been consistently suspended every six months since 1996 by all the presidents of the United States, using an exception included in the Law that grants them that power. On April 17, 2019, the government of Donald Trump announced that, as of May 2 of the same year, this possibility would be activated, by allowing the courts to take action on the lawsuits filed. This decision has not been reversed by the government of Joseph Biden.
For the first time in 23 years, on April 2, 2019, legal proceedings were initiated under the Helms-Burton Act. As of July 31, 2021, a total of 39 lawsuits had been filed, of which 5 were withdrawn and 34 remain ongoing. This policy has affected US and third-country companies that have done or are doing business with Cuba, as well as national companies.