Related videos:
The debate over properties confiscated by the Cuban regime following the Revolution of 1959 has returned to the diplomatic spotlight in 2026, driven by the terminal crisis of the Havana government, statements from Cuban officials, and the impending decision by the United States Supreme Court, according to an analysis published by The New York Times.
The Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, indicated a few days ago that Havana would be willing to offer a one-time payment to the U.S. government to compensate claimants, although he conditioned any agreement on the lifting of the embargo, the end of sanctions, and the approval of new investments.
The Cuban ambassador to the UN, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, summarized it last Thursday with a phrase that encapsulates the regime's stance: "This is a highway with two directions."
Miami lawyers representing claimants have expressed skepticism about the viability and true intentions of the Cuban proposal, suggesting that it may be more of a negotiating tactic than a genuine offer, in line with the analysis of Havana's dual approach.
The volume of claims is enormous. The New York Times cites the case of the Cuban Teo A. Babún, Jr., whose consultants hired by his family estimated that the value of his lost properties in Cuba amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars by 2018.
The Babún family owned the second largest sawmill in the East, the construction company Diamante S.A., the factory Cementos Nacionales S.A., the Sevilla estate, and the shipping line of Santiago de Cuba.
In 2019, the regime published an article in the official newspaper Granma where it attempted to discredit the plaintiff and referred to Babún as a "mercenary."
The United States Department of Justice has certified 5,913 valid claims, with an estimated value of between 8.5 billion and 10 billion dollars including accrued interest at a rate of 6% per annum.
The ten largest claims—from companies such as Cuban Electric Company, ITT, ExxonMobil, and Starwood Hotels—total nearly 960 million dollars.
Furthermore, it is estimated that there are between 200,000 and 300,000 additional claims from Cuban-Americans who were Cuban nationals at the time of the expropriations, a group that the Cuban proposal explicitly excludes, which has led to frustration within the Cuban-American community.
In March 2026, statements from President Donald Trump prompted over 500 families to file claims through the company 1898 Compañía de Recuperaciones Patrimoniales, according to reports on the surge of claims following Trump's statements.
The expert Jordi Cabarrocas, from that same company, has proposed alternative formulas such as monetary compensation or land swaps without displacements, taking advantage of available land that the regime has not developed.
"Nobody will be evicted," Cabarrocas declared in March 2026, ruling out scenarios of mass physical restitution.
The central legal framework is the Title III of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which was suspended for decades and reactivated by the Trump administration in May 2019 and again in January 2025. This law allows lawsuits to be filed in U.S. federal courts against companies that "traffic" in properties confiscated in Cuba.
The Supreme Court of the United States held oral hearings on February 23, 2026, in two key cases: Havana Docks Corp. v. Royal Caribbean Cruises and Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Corporación Cimex, S.A., with a final ruling expected before June 2026 that could redefine the scope of claims under Helms-Burton.
Cuba, for its part, counters with its own claims for damages from the embargo, which the Cuban government estimates at 157 billion dollars, and demands that any agreement be "holistic" and reciprocal, according to the analysis on the possible end of the regime and the reopening of the property issue.
The first real compensation under the Helms-Burton Act occurred on May 27, 2021, when an American family reached an agreement with LafargeHolcim for the use of properties confiscated in 1960, with compensation estimated between 50 and 60 million dollars — the only concrete precedent in over six decades of unresolved conflict.
Filed under: