Category: Washington

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

NICOSIA CYPRUS , U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-.N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,  took time out of his busy schedule to issue the following statement in reaction to an announcement by the Trump Administration that the United States will implement Title III of the LIBERTAD Act. In Section 302 of the law, Congress provided U.S. citizens with verified claims for confiscated properties by the Cuban regime with the ability to pursue litigation in U.S. courts against companies that are conducting business in, on or with these confiscated properties.

“By fully implementing Title III of the LIBERTAD Act, the United States is rightly providing U.S. citizens with the means to hold the Cuban regime accountable through the U.S. justice system.

“For decades, Cuba’s authoritarian government has profited extensively off of the private property that it stole from its citizens. It has utilized these stolen properties to conduct business with foreign investors, while Cuban and Cuban-American families have had no legal recourse against this theft. In turn, the Cuban regime has used these ill-gotten profits to entrench itself in power, oppress the Cuban people, and bankroll campaigns of anti-democratic intervention across the hemisphere.

“Given that Cuba’s recalcitrant regime has never responded to diplomatic outreach, it is necessary to increase pressure on its economic interests. Today, American citizens are finally being provided the long overdue authority to seek legal recourse and economic compensation against the trafficking and misuse of their properties.”