“The future of property rights in Cuba and the issue of US claims against the communist Castro regime should not be forgotten in any US-Cuban reengagement,” Congressman Jeff Duncan said in a hearing on US financial claims against Cuba.
During the 1959 communist revolution in Cuba, approximately $1.8 billion in US property was confiscated or nationalized, former Chairman of the Justice Department’s Foreign Claims Settlement Commission Mauricio Tamargo told the Congress. Today, those claims are valued at more than $7 billion.
“I call on the [Obama] administration and the Congress to hold fast and not remove key elements of the embargo or the sanctions that remain unless the claimants receive full and fair payment for the settlement of their certified claims,” Tamargo stated.
Congressman Curt Clawson insisted the Congress is responsible for upholding US citizens' private property claims against the Castro regime in Cuba.
“The very first step in making what past wrongs there were right, would be to make sure [US citizens]… are made whole again,” Clawson said.
The Obama administration and Cuban representatives continue negotiations on opening embassies in the two countries, according to remarks from the US State Department.
