U.S. Court allows Cuban's lawsuit against American Airlines to be reopened for using airport confiscated by Castro's regime

After years of legal struggle, José Ramón López Regueiro, son of the Cuban businessman José López Vilaboy and the sole heir of the José Martí International Airport in Havana, has received a crucial boost after it was announced that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in the United States overturned the , allowing him to proceed with his case under the Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.

López Regueiro accuses the American airline of "trafficking" a property that belongs to him, Cuba's main airport, without his consent or compensation. The lawsuit, which could set a precedent for other similar claims, demands 3 billion dollars in compensation for the company's operations in infrastructure expropriated by Fidel Castro's regime in 1959.

A story of dispossession and exile

The plaintiff's father, José López Vilaboy, owned the Havana airport through the company CAISA. In 1959, the facility was nationalized by the new communist government without providing compensation.

López Vilaboy was forced to flee the island. His son inherited the company in 1989 and obtained U.S. citizenship in 2015.

Although a trial judge in Miami, Lauren Louis, dismissing the lawsuit in 2022, argued that the property had been confiscated from a Cuban citizen and not an American citizen, the appeals court corrected that interpretation.

The U.S. Circuit Judge Jill Pryor wrote in a 19-page decision that Title III of the Helms-Burton Act "unequivocally" does not require that property was owned by a U.S. citizen when it was confiscated by the Cuban government and does not require that a plaintiff was a U.S. citizen when they acquired an interest in the property.

This decision opens the door not only for López Regueiro but also for hundreds of Cuban Americans who were unjustly excluded from the right to claim the property that Castro's regime took from them.

The Helms-Burton Act states that "any person who... traffics in property confiscated by the Cuban government as of January 1, 1959, shall be liable to any national of the United States who holds a claim to such property," the document notes.

Pryor ruled that the term "any United States citizen" in the law "includes those United States citizens who became citizens after acquiring the property in question."

"By allowing a claimant to file a claim under Title III even if they were not a U.S. citizen when the Cuban government confiscated their property, it is clear that the Helms-Burton Act also covers claimants who acquired their property before becoming U.S. citizens," Pryor wrote.

The lawyer Andrés Rivero de Rivero Mestre, who represents Regueiro, celebrated the decision in a statement on Wednesday afternoon, reported CourtHouse News Service.

“We are immensely pleased that the Eleventh Circuit has correctly adopted our arguments and reopened the case of Mr. López Reguiero against American Airlines for its abusive trafficking at the Havana airport, which was taken from Mr. López Reguiero's family”, Rivero stated. “We will continue to pursue traffickers like American Airlines and Expedia to stop and punish their shameful support for the repressive communist regime in Cuba.”

What's at stake?

American Airlines is not the only one under scrutiny. LATAM Airlines, based in Chile, was also sued in the same case.

But the impact goes beyond that. More than 40 airlines operate at Havana airport, which could trigger a wave of lawsuits if it is confirmed that they have benefited from the use of confiscated properties without compensation to their rightful owners.

Since the activation of Title III by the Donald Trump administration in 2019, over 5,900 claims from U.S. citizens have been registered by the American government. However, many claims, such as that of López Regueiro, are not certified, complicating their legal processing.

A battle for memory and justice

For López Regueiro, this lawsuit is more than just a matter of money. It is a way to reclaim his father's history, to denounce the impunity of the Castro regime, and to pave the way for other victims of dispossession to find justice.

"Cuba will not return anything until the Castros die," he stated in a previous interview, resigned yet steadfast in his determination to demand, at the very least, some financial compensation.

Now, with this new court ruling, their case, which many thought was lost, is revived with renewed strength. A son's fight for his father's legacy becomes a symbol for thousands of dispossessed Cubans who continue to seek justice.

Frequently asked questions about the lawsuit by López Regueiro against American Airlines