DIPLOMATIC TIMES MAGAZINE

DIPLOMATIC TIMES SPECIAL

PRESIDENT TRUMP REVERSES OBAMA CUBA POLICY U.S. LAUNCHES NEW COLD WAR AGAINST HAVANA

CUBA ISSUE ISSUE 04 MARCH 2020 $5.00

MYSTERIOUS ILLNESS AT U.S. EMBASSY HAVANA EUROPEAN UNION STEPS UP INVESMENT IN CUBA

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF U.S. - CUBA RELATIONS?

DIPLOMATIC TIMES MARCH

As the United States pulls away from Cuba, the European Union increases economic investments with Havana

Former Obama top diplomamt in Cuba pained by Trump’s reversal of Detente

European Union ambassador to Havana blames Venezuela for reversal of reform in Cuba.

2020

-CONTENTS3

MYSTERY illness at U.S. Embassy in Havana

3

THE FUTURE OF U.S. -Cuba Relations

4 BRITIISH whisky company Diageo Forms Cuban Lux ury Rum joint venture 5

CUBA President in solidarity with Venezuela Maduro

6 SPANISH Hotel Chains Meliá and Iberrstar resist U.S. Policy on Property in Cuba 7 Former Obama U.S. Chargé d’affaires To Cuba Reflects On Grounbreaking Engangement With Havana

Credit:

cubaron.com / Cuba’s premium Santiago de Cuba rum will be added to Diageo Europe’s portfolio of reserve luxury spirits.

-PAGE 4

8 European Union Ambassador Says U.S. Is Key To Political Change in Cuba 12 SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE $792 Million Lawsuit Under Cuban Properties Helms-Burton Act 15 EUROPEAN Union investment in Cuba Surges as U.S. isolates Havana

Spanish Hotel Chains Meliá and Iberostar Resist U.S. Policy On Property In Cuba PAGE 6

17

RUSSIA promises more military and economic aid

for Cuba as U.S. reverses Obama engagement

DIPLOMATIC TIMES MAGAZINE 450 Lexington Ave. #705 New York, NY 10163 (917) 995-5548 Published by Canaan Light Productions, LLC Gary Raynaldo Publisher Marie-Agnes Gomez Editor-In-Chief

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-EDITORIAL THE FUTURE OF U.S. - CUBA RELATIONS -Diplomatic TimesIt is said that the most vital relationship with Cuba will always be with the United States alone. Not with Europe, Russia or China. Only a mere 90 miles separates the U.S. and Cuba but they are thousands of miles away in terms of a viable political relationship at the moment. The U.S.-Cuba relationship has descended to its lowest point in decades as President Trump reverses the Obama-era engagement. A former EU diplomat in Havana Herman Portocarero stated at a recent panel discussion “Cuba and Beyond” at Columbia University that that only the U.S. can bring everlasting change to socialist Cuba. The former EU diplomat summed up the U.S.-Cuba relationship over the past half century as “always something betwen a menance and an opportunity.” President Trump is rolling back some of his predecessor’s Cuba policies, likely closing out a historic period of détente between the two longtime adversaries, the Council on Foreign Relations observed in a March 7, 2019 report on Havana.

“The U.S.-Cuba relationship has been plagued by distrust and antagonism since 1959, the year Fidel Castro overthrew a U.S.-backed regime in Havana and established a socialist state allied with the Soviet Union. During the half century that followed, successive U.S. administrations pursued policies intended to isolate the island country economically and diplomatically. The United States has sanctioned Cuba longer it has any other country.,” the CFR report stated. Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro, who succeeded his brother as Cuban leader in 2008, took some extraordinary steps to normalize bilateral relations, meeting with each other, restoring full diplomatic ties, and easing travel restrictions. However, President Donald J. Trump has reversed some of his predecessor’s policies, and some observers expect that his administration will only become more confrontational with Cuba., according to the CFR report. Since 1962, the United States has maintained a crippling economic embargo on Cuba. The UN General Assembly last year called for an end to the decades-old US blockade on Cuba. Among the 193-Member States, the UN voted overwhelmingly 1873 in favor of ending the embargo. As expected, the US and its ally Israel

voted against it. A new negative vote came from the far-right government of President Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil, with Colombia and Ukraine abstaining. This was the 28th time that the 193-nation assembly has issued the call to lift the embargo imposed. The vote has been made every year since 1992.

“Like all nations, we get to choose which countries we trade with. This is our sovereign right. So, it is worrying that the international community, in the name of protecting sovereignty, continues to challenge this right.”

-Kelly Craft, the US Ambassador to the UN said at the time.

The embargo is rooted in the Cold War, when Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries seized power. The General Assembly does not have the power to end the embargo, only the U.S. Congress does. Cuba uses the annual favorable UN vote as a PR campaign against the U.S. to expose its isolation on the issue.

Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro shocked the world in late 2014 by announcing that their governments would restore full diplomatic ties and begin to ease more than fifty years of bilateral tensions. Obama eased travel and trade restricions and even dropped Cuba’s designation as a terrorism sponsor, which had been a major obstacle to normalization to former U.S. administrations. The U.S. and Havana later reopened their embassies restoring full diplomatic ties.

In 2016, President Obama visiting Havana in the first trip to Cuba by a sitting U.S. president since Calvin Coolidge toured the island in 1928.

Later that year, American commercial airlines began offering service between the countries for the first time in more than fifty years. In 2019, the Trump administration allowed U.S. citizens the right to sue dozens of Cuban companies that traffic in confiscated property with the re-establishment of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act. All other U.S. presidents before Trump had suspended this right to sue Cuban companies . Yes, the political basketball remains in the U.S.’ corner in terms of improving relations with Havana. However, at the moment, it appears the U.S. won’t touch the ball and relations remain cold and frosty.

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MYSTERY ILLNESS AT U.S. EMBASSY IN HAVANA REMAINS AN ENIGMA HAVANA SYNDROME. It is the

term given to a set of medical signs and symptoms reportedly experienced

by United States and Canadian embassy staff, first reported in Cuba, and then in China. The U.S. government accused Cuba of perpetrating unspecified attacks causing these symptoms.

The U.S. reduced staff at their embassy to a minimum, and U.S. President Trump declared in October 2017 that he believed Cuba was responsible for

for them to investigate the complaints.

Concussion-like symptoms were observed in US government personnel in Cuba after they reported hearing intensely loud sounds in their homes and hotel rooms and feeling changes in air pressure caused by an unknown source. In a Mar. 20, 2018, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a report conducted by several physicians concluded:

Photo credit: by Gary Raynaldo / In August 2015, after 54 years, the U.S. Embassy in Cuba re-opened as President Obama restored diplomatic ties between the two countries.

the attacks, but offered no evidence for his claim. Subsequent studies of the affected diplomats found that they had experienced some form of brain injury, but did not determine a cause for the injury. Theories have ranged from some type of Sonic attack to loud crickets. From late 2016 through August 2017, US government personnel serving on diplomatic assignment in Havana, Cuba, reported neurological symptoms associated with exposure to auditory and sensory phenomena. According to doctors, the unexplained health attacks caused symptoms consistent with mild traumatic brain injury.

Some 24 people at the American Embassy in Havana reportedly got sick. The US government initially labeled the mystery illness as an “acoustic attack” using sonic devices targeting its diplomats serving on the island. . Cuban officials have repeatedly denied responsibility for any attacks on the diplomats and have said the United States has provided little substantive information

“These individuals appeared to have sustained injury to widespread brain networks without an associated history of head trauma. At this point, a unifying explanation for the symptoms experienced by the US government officials described in this case series remains elusive and the effect of possible exposure to audible phenomena is unclear.”

Then in a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), report a year later, July 2019, concluded that the nature and cause of the brain trauma remains unclear. This was the first brain imaging studies of the 40 diplomats. The study revealed that although the diplomats experienced some kind of brain trauma, it is unclear what caused it. According to the JAMA study, the U.S. Department of State directly referred personnel and family members to the University of Pennsylvania for clinical evaluation and treatment (Continued On Page 13)

British Whisky Company Diageo Forms Cuban Luxury Rum Joint Venture

By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES British whisky giant Diageo has formed a joint venture with the Cuba’s state-owned Corporación Cuba Ron S.A. to distribute the socialist’s country’s world famous premium Santiago de Cuba rum, the UK company announced Monday. The joint venture will have exclusive global distribution rights to Santiago de Cuba, a premium Cuban heritage rum brand. Santiago de Cuba will join Diageo Europe’s portfolio of Reserve luxury spirits, building on the trend toward premiumisation to and the cocktail culture which are driving growth in key cities and resorts across Europe, according to Diageo. The brand will not be distributed in the United States of America. The agreement comes as the US is stepping up sanctions on Cuba in an attempt to cripple foreign investment in the Caribbean Island.

“The joint venture with Corporación Cuba Ron is in keeping with our strategy to invest behind growth opportunities in premium and above brands. Consumers are looking for new and authentic experiences and working with Corporación Cuba Ron provides a great opportunity to expand our portfolio in segments of the rum category whose growth is being driven by premiumisation globally and in Europe.”

-Dayalan Nayager, Managing Director, Diageo GB, Ireland and France.

-na, President of Corporación Cuba Ron SA. said. As US Isolates Cuba, the European Union Dramatically Increases Investments in the Caribbean Nation. While the U.S. under President Trump is rapidly breaking all political and economic ties with Cuba that his predecessor Barack Obama established, the European Union has substantially increased investments in the socialist nation over the past two

Credit: cubaron.com / Cuba’s premium Santiago de Cuba rum will be added to Diageo Europe’s portfolio of reserve luxury spirits.

The EU bloc imported some €470 million worth of Cuban goods in 2017 and exported more than two billion euros’ worth. In March, the U.S. Department of State eliminated the highly sought after 5-year travel visa for Cuban citizens visiting America. The EU has sharply criticized the US for activating Title (LIBERTAD).

Santiago de Cuba is the second largest premium Cuban rum, renowned for its high quality and provenance in the traditional rum distilling region of Cuba.

“We are proud to announce the creation of this joint venture, which will bring the award-winning Santiago de Cuba to consumers around the world.

More than just a rum, Santiago de Cuba was born in the city where the history and tradition of Cuban light rum originated. It is an expression of its people and part of our Cuban tradition and culture. We are looking forward to working with our partners to build the success of this premium rum outside Cuba.” -Juan Gonzalez Escola-

Diageo’s Cuba JV Is Similar To Rival France Pernod-Ricard’s Deal With Havana Club Rum

Credit: Pernod-Ricard.com / France Pernod-Ricard has been distributing Cuba’s famous Havana Club rum more than 25 years.

Credit: twitterukcuba / David Cutter, President of Global Supply and Procurement of British beverage giant Diageo, and Juan Gonzalez Escalona, President of the state-run Cuba Ron, signing a joint venture to market Santiago de Cuba rum, in Havana.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 4

Diageo’s distribution joint-venture with Cuba’s Government is similar to France’s Pernod-Ricard agreement to distribute Havana Club rum. The JV, for Havana Club, is more than 25 years old and gives Pernod control of the rum brand outside of Cuba. The US trademark registration for “Havana Club” lapsed in 1973. The brand was then assigned by the Cuban government to Pernod Ricard in 1993.

Cuba President In Solidarity With Embattled Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro at Leftist Conference DIPLOMATIC TIMES STAFF If anyone thought Cuba’s new President Miguel Diaz-Canel was going to be mild mannered alternative to the fiery Fidel Castro, think again. Cuba President Diaz-Canel was in Venezuela last week attending Latin America’s largest meeting of leftist organizations at the Sao Paulo Forum at Miraflores Palace in Caracas. Embracing “Peace, Sovereignty and Prosperity of the Peoples” as a common goal, more than 120 Latin American social and political organizations began Thursday the 25th Meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum (SPF) in Caracas. In his address to the forum, Cuba’s President Díaz-Canel declared:

“Venezuela is today the first anti-imperialist trench of the world. The U.S. imperialism counteroffensive and the oligarchy, alongside the hawks that have literally hijacked U.S. foreign policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean, are dangerously threatening the geographical space that CELAC [Community of Latin American and Caribbean States] declared a Peace Zone.”

-Cuba President Díaz-Canel

The Cuban president also strongly embraced embattled Venezuelan President Maduro. ” Let us reaffirm before the world our support and solidarity with legitimate President Nicolás Maduro Moros and the military civic union that has defeated the worst plans of the enemy so many times. We must remember that ensuring peace in Venezuela is equivalent to defending peace for the entire region.To support and defend Venezuela is to decisively confront the return of the Monroe Doctrine and the imperialist escalation against our peoples. Today it is wielded against Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua; tomorrow will be against others, and in the end they will go for everyone.” The words of Diaz-Canel were vintage Castro. The annual forum was founded by the former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 1990, bringing delegations of leftist governments, politicians, and activists from across Latin America and the Carribean. During the 2000s, the forum was considered an important regional event with the rise of numerous socialist governments across the region.Venezuelan deputy Leonardo Regnault denounced that hosting the Sao Paulo Forum will cost Venezuela USD $200 million: “This forum is a temple set up for friends to come to do an ideological pilgrimage, while the Venezuelan people suffer from hunger and misery, unable to meet basic needs, while they die to the conditions in hospitals, and have no access to medicine and food,” he said, as reported in Pan Am Post.

“This forum is a temple set up for friends to come to do an ideological pilgrimage, while the Venezuelan people suffer from hunger and misery, unable to meet basic needs, while they die to the conditions in hospitals, and have no access to medicine and food,” he said, as reported in Pan Am Post.

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Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuba’s president, left, shakes hands with Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s president, during the closing ceremony of the Sao Paulo Forum at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on Sunday, July 28, 2019 ( Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Delegations of progressive political groups from other parts of the world, including Africa, Asia and Europe, took part in the three-day forum. Diaz-Canel said his participation also aimed to express his country’s steadfast support for Venezuela’s ruling party and embattled President Maduro. Cuba has been subjected to an economic blockade by the U.S. that the United Nations estimates has cost the country’s economy $130 billion over nearly six decades.

Spanish Hotel Chains Meliá and Iberostar Resist U.S. Policy On Property In Cuba

Photo Credit by Gary Raynaldo / The Spain-owned Meliá Cohiba hotel across from Malecón sea in Havana, Cuba

DIPLOMATIC TIMES STAFF Spanish chains Iberostar and Meliá plan to continue investing in Cuba despite the activation of Title III and announced they would be investing millions of euros in projects on the island in coming years. President Trump opened the door last year for lawsuits over Cuban confiscated properties. The Trump administration announced it is allowing former owners of commercial property expropriated by Cuba to sue companies and the Cuban government for using or “trafficking” in those confiscated holdings. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. won’t renew a ban on litigation that had been in place for two decades The Trump administration activated, effective April 2019, Title III of the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD). Spanish chains Iberostar and Meliá vehementlh opposed the U.S. restrictions. (Continued on Page 16)

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 6

Former Obama U.S. Ambassador To Cuba Pained As Trump Grinds Engagement With Havana To A Halt

Trump Administration continues to reverse Obama’s policies with sanctions against Cuba.

The former ambassador to Cuba fondly shared his experiences working to normalize US-Cuba relations after his appointment as the top diplomatic official at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. DeLaurentis said negotiations began in early 2014 and culminated in the historic announcement by President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro on December 17, 2014 on the new policy of engagement by the two countries. Today, DeLaurentis said the Trump administration continues to reverse Obama’s policies with sanctions against Cuba. “US Special Envoy to Venezuela Elliot Abrams this month called for new sanctions for Cuba over its support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. I poured my heart and soul into the normalization process (relations between US – Cuba),” the diplomat said.

Credit: Gary Raynaldo / Jeffrey DeLaurentis, former Chargé d’affaires at U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba under President Obama, speaks at Columbia University on US-Cuba relations in New York City,, Oct. 29, 2019.

By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES

“THE proudest day of my career was when President Obama nominated me to be the U.S. Ambassador to Cuba,” Jeffrey DeLaurentis said. DeLaurentis is an American diplomat who served as the Chargé d’affaires ad interim of the Embassy of the United States in Havana from 2015 to 2017. Speaking at Columbia University in New York City on Wednesday October 30, 2019.

DeLaurentis reflected on his long career in the foreign service and, in particular, his leading the embassy during the historic U.S.-Cuban detente and restoration of diplomatic ties in July 2015. The diplomat reviewed the current state of US-Cuban relations and the trajectory for the future during his presentation at Columbia University’s Institute of Latin American Studies Cuba and Beyond Series. The activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton

Act of 1996 by the Trump government in May has opened the door for lawsuits filed with U.S. courts over the use in Cuba of nationalized land and property after the 1959 revolution.

The U.S. Trump administration also put in place actions that prohibit U.S. cruise travel, and restrictions on people-to-people travel to Cuba.

“The US-Cuba relationship has descended to its lowest point in decades. It is very painful to watch the Obama U.S. engagement with Cuba grind to a halt.”

-Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 7

Washington’s ‘Man In Havana’ Worked Diligently To Normalize Relations With Cuba On September 27, 2016, President Obama announced his intent to nominate DeLaurentis to be the first U.S. Ambassador to Cuba in over 50 years: President Obama said: “Today, I am proud to nominate Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis to be the first U.S. Ambassador to Cuba in more than 50 years. Jeff ’s leadership has been vital throughout the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba, and the appointment of an ambassador is a common sense step forward toward a more normal and productive relationship between our two countries. There is no public servant better suited to improve our ability to engage the Cuban people and advance U.S. interests in Cuba than Jeff. ”

“One of the most difficult moments for me professionally was to sit back in the U.S. Embassy on June 16, 2017, DeLaurentis said, recalling when President Trump announced his new Cuba policy that set out to reverse and gut major parts of the Obama engagement. “I departed Cuba 21 days later in July. For me, after six months of expressing opposition inside the Embassy , trying to keep morale up, I could no longer hold in my reaction to the policy changes that I had been opposed to, looking at everything going down the tubes.”

Obama Administration Began Plan Of Secret Talks With Cuba

DeLaurentis said the Obama Administration began a plan of engagement with Cuba with secret talks. “The secret talks took place in Canada with secret negotiations. The Cubans were really suspicious. We began with third-party engagement and sealed the deal October 28, 2014, the diplomat said. “In November 2014, negotiatiations (Continued Page 9).

Long-time EU Diplomat In Havana Says U.S. Is Key To Change In Cuba, Not Europe

By Gary Raynaldo

lopsided triangle. At certain moments in time, the EU played a more prominent role, the US was always there in background, but then gets more involved under Jimmy Carter and under President Obama, then (under President Trump) takes a backseat again and becomes very negative. The U.S. with Cuba is always something between an opportunity and a menace, a threat and a possibility.”

-Herman Portocarero, former European Union ambassador to Cuba.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES NEW YORK – “THE vital relationship with Cuba will always be with the U.S. not Europe. Europeans will not be the ones to bring everlasting change to Cuba. It will be the U.S.” said Herman Portocarero, who served as the European Union’s first full-fledged ambassador to Cuba in July 2012 overseeing a diverse portfolio of activities in the political, trade and investment, and development cooperation fields. The former ambassador shared his rich diplomatic experiences in Havana at the Cuba Program Institute of Latin American Studies of Columbia University CUBA AND BEYOND SERIES last week. Portocarero said his role in Cuba began in Ethiopia in 1980 where he happened to be based there when one of the first large scale military interventions by Cuba on African soil happened between Somalia and Ethiopia in 19781979. Portocarero, 67, was stationed at the Embassy of Belgium in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His main activity was to monitor Ethiopian politics and ongoing civil wars as Cold War proxy phenomena.

“Cuba has been a passionate part of my career, and privately. I lived in in Ethiopia. My neighbors happened to be Cuban doctors. So , I came to understand things. There were 15,000 Cuban soldiers still in Ethiopia, because they had not been withdrawn after the Ogaden war. The Ethiopians wanted very much to send them to the Northern front for the Civil war with Eritrea but the Cubans didn’t want to do that. Because Somalia had not been a just war by any definition it was a foreign invasion by a nationalist who wanted to create a global Somalia. But Cubans did not want to fight Eritrea. First of all, the Eritreans were old Marxists long before (Haile Mariam) Mengistu. It was much more murky . It was a civil war, and they did not want to get involved. We all know Cuba made a greater difference in Angola, (By the end of 1975 the Cuban military in Angola numbered more than 25,000 troops, contributing) eventually (to) the liberation of

“Anti-Communist EU Members Stopped EU From Moving Forward With Cuba” -Portocarero.

Credit: Gary Raynaldo / Herman Portocarero, former European Union ambassador to Cuba, speaks on future of the socialist nation at Columbia University, New York political forum Nov. 12, 2019.

Namibia and the fall of Apartheid.

And it was generally recognized that the Cuba-Africa policy made a real difference.”

-Herman Portocarero, former European Union ambassador to Cuba.

“The U.S. With Cuba is Always Something Between an Opportunity And a Menace” “Since 1959, there are the years when Cuba was very much enthralled to Soviet Union. Then after the collapse of Communism in Europe, the EU and Canada played a major role. Then 1999-2000, when Chavez and Venezuela came into the picture, that put us somewhat on the back seat. Then when Chavez passed away, you had the period that Brasil played a very

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 8

important part, and the EU coming on strong again. Then you had the very short but very intense period under President Obama when the United States got involved and was opening up. And it was always a interaction between the US, Cuba and Europe basically, like a triangle. Every country is defined by geographic history. In case of Cuba you had geography with the US some 90 miles from Havana to the US Key West. And history, which is spanning the Atlantic. Europe, and Europe being the largest sense, the EU, but also Russia and the communist countries in Europe in those days, they had a certain pull of history, but the push is geography in the end. Cuba is where it is. And that you cannot change. You cannot rewrite history but you can certainly change geography. This has been a kind of a

“We have the EU as such, We are, of course, a very complicated institution.

There also are 28 individual member states of course. In the 1990’s, when Europe was very important for Cuba in terms of economic survival. what developed fairly quickly was relationships with the individual EU countries and Cuba. And that had specific reasons. Practically overnight, Cuba became a huge tourist destination with hundreds of thousands of European tourists coming. We saw foreign investment coming. For that you needed agreements and a legal framework.

If you have hundreds of thousands of tourists, you are going to have accidents, You going to have visa issues, counsel issues, you need legal preparation. you need visa agreements you need airline agreements. So the relations with individual EU member states developed very quick over these years But the EU as such, was holding back, partly because what is happening is that former socialist states became EU members and they were very much against communism, and that stopped the EU from moving forward with Cuba.” Portocarero said.

Cuba – Chavez-Venezuela Alliance Stalled Economic Reform : Portocarero The former EU diplomat in Havana is strongly of the opinion that Cuba’s political and economic alignment with Hugo Chavez’ Venezula halted its reform.

(Continued Page 10)

Ex-Obama U.S. Chargé d’affaires To Cuba Reflects On Historic Engagement With Havana

Credit: twitter.com / Jeffrey DeLaurentis served as the top diplomatic official at the U.S. Embassy in Havana from 2014-2017.

(Continued From Page 7) concluded,” he remembered. DeLaurentis said the negotiations included Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, who was Cuba’s third-most powerful political figure at the time. On June 20, 2015, the U.S. re-established diplomatic relations with Cuba for the first time in half a century of previous isolation.

“I was very fortunate to be in Havana when President Obama and Raul Castro signed the historic agreement,” DeLaurentis said. Obama was the first U.S. President to visit Cuba since 1928.

Mysterious Illness Among Staff At U.S. Embassy in Havana

Nearly three years ago, U.S. diplomats in Cuba began experiencing hearing loss, dizziness and memory problems — in what the Trump administration attributed to an attack of unknown origin. In 2017, the State Department said the employees may have been victims of a “sonic attack” that harmed their brains: Their symptoms reportedly arose after they heard intense, high-pitched sounds in their homes or hotel rooms. But the alleged events remain unsolved. And there has been no objective evidence of any brain injuries, according to U.S. News and World Reports.

Addressing this issue during the question and answer session at DeLaurentis’ talk at Columbia University, the diplomat said:

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 9

“It is still a fairly sensitive topic. Folks still don’t know(what happened) Something did happen. I hope the people who were effected get medical help.”

Cuba Is Not Running Venezuela: - DeLaurentis The diplomat also commented on the Trump administration’s battle against Cuba for its support of Maduro’s Venezuela. U.S. officials have claimed that Cuban military advis-

ers in Venezuela are a mainstay of the Maduro regime, with some estimates of 25,000 in Venezuela. “They first said there were 25,000 Cuban troops in Venezuela, then they scaled it down. There may be a handful there.

No one really knows. I suppose it depends on one’s political perspective.”

The diplomat added: “Cuba is not running Venezuela. Cuba is too busy trying to run their own county.”

DeLaurentis said he has a great sense of pride in his efforts establishing positive diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“I remain very proud of my work in the process of renegotiation of U.S.-Cuba engagement. I was part of the team that finally cracked the code in U.S-Cuba relations.”

(Continued on Page 11)

EU Diplomat In Havana Says Chavez Venezuela Axis Stalled Economic Reform in Cuba

Credit: Gary Raynaldo / Herman Portocarero, former European Union ambassador to Cuba, speaks on future of the socialist nation at Columbia University, New York political forum Nov. 12, 2019.

(From Page 8)

Cuba – Chavez-Venezuela Alliance Stalled Economic Reform : Portocarero In 1995 Portocarero became ambassador of Belgium in Havana, Cuba, and till mid-1999 was very active in promoting people-to-people contacts between Europe and Cuba, especially in the field of higher education. He established close personal connections within Cuban society, while engaging the authorities and seeking common ground on sensitive political issues.

“In January 1999, we signed all the agreements, rescheduled commercial debts, concluded deals with Universities, saw some dissidents. The Belgian Foreign Minister was present.

We were making progress, when I was Belgian ambassador. I had a very interesting dinner with Fidel until 4 in the morning. The Belgian Foreign minister leaves. Everything is going fine. Two days later , who would land (in Havana) but Hugo Chavez, as President -Elect of Venezuela. Within weeks, things changed. The Belgians and other Europeans had been encouraging economic change and that was happening,

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 10

and as soon as Venezuela came into the picture what we saw they slowed down economic reforms, and that went on for 10 years. It is my conviction that for those lost 10 years, the Cuban establishment thought nothing fundamental had to change, that they could go on as long as they had the Sugar Daddy in Caracas, basically. They could remain basically where they were. They stopped economic reform dead in its tracks. And those years were lost for the future of the country. I think it was a very unwise decision frankly. And I told my Cuban friends that. They missed oppor-

tunities to keep the society on board to gradually change things, to keep the social achievements but to open up Cuban economy. We see the consequences of those 10 years today (in Cuba) where economically things are very difficult.

Venezuela was a bad decision… (Cuba) putting too many eggs in the same basket.” -Herman Portocarero BRAZIL – LULA Was Bad Luck For Cuba Economic Reforms: Portocarero

“Then Brazil came aboard and did very well, but Brazil was bad luck,.

(Continued On Page 14)

Obama Top Diplomat In Havana Proud Of Re-Negotiation Of U.S. - Cuba Engagement (From Page 9) Russia Increasing Economic and Military Ties With Cuba As U.S. Isolates Havana DeLaurentis noted that while the current U.S. administration is moving rapidly back toward the pre-Obama isolationist policy toward Havana, Russia is establishing closer economic and military ties with Cuba. He pointed out that Cuba President Miguel Díaz-Canel is visiting Russia this week . Russian President Putin is hosting the Cuban leader for talks on expanding ties.

During his 28-year career in the Foreign Service, Ambassador DeLaurentis worked almost exclusively on Western Hemisphere issues and as a multilateral diplomat at the United Nations. Prior to taking up his position in Cuba, Ambassador DeLaurentis served for three years as the Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Prior to that posting, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Ambassador DeLaurentis was previously Minister Counselor for Political Affairs and Security Council Coordinator at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Since beginning his State Department career in 1991, Ambassador DeLaurentis has served in a number of overseas posts including twice before in Havana, first as consular officer in 1991-93, then as Political-Economic Section Chief from 1999-2002. He also served as Political Counselor at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, and Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. In Washington, Ambassador DeLaurentis served as Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Director of Inter-American Affairs at the National Security Council, and as an International Relations Officer in the Bureau of International Organizations. Prior to entering Foreign Service, Ambassador DeLaurentis held a senior staff position at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a graduate of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and Columbia University.

Credit: Gary Raynaldo / Jeffrey DeLaurentis, former Chargé d’affaires at U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba under President Obama, speaks at Columbia University on US-Cuba relations in New York City,, Oct. 29, 2019.

“I remain very proud of my work in the process of renegotiation of U.S.-Cuba engagement. I was part of the team that finally cracked the code in U.S-Cuba relations.”

-Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis

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Société Générale Hit With $792 Million Lawsuit Under Cuban Properties Helms-Burton Act

By Gary Raynaldo

Société Générale allegedly conducted and concealed transactions between Cuban banks, including Banco Nacional de Cuba, and foreign operations through a series of credit facilities between 2000 and 2010, according to the complaint. In October 2019, Société Générale filed a Moton To Dismiss the Libertad lawsuit:

DIPLOMATIC TIMES

The American family of the founders of a Cuban bank that was nationalized by Fidel Castro’s socialist government in 1959 have sued France’s Société Générale seeking approximately $792 Million under the new Trump Administration’s policy change allowing lawsuits against seized Cuban property. Since May 2, 2019, Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, enacted in 1996, has been in effect. The statute allows certain persons who have done business with Cuba to be sued in US courts by plaintiffs who had an interest in Cuban property which was confiscated by the Castro regime and from which the defendant later benefited. In May, Carnival Cruise became the first company sued under the Trump Administration’s new policy. In the latest Helms-Burton lawsuit, Sucesores de Don Carlos Nuñez y Doña Pura Galves, Inc., d/b/a Banco Nuñez V. Société Générale, S.A., d/b/a Société Générale Americas, Case 1:19-cv-22842-DPG ( U.S. Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which sits in Miami), it is alleged that before Castro came to power, the subject bank, Banco Nuñez was a flourishing enterprise in Cuba. As of December 31, 1958, Banco Nuñez was the second largest Cuban-owned bank on the island in terms of assets and equity, according to the lawsuit. It controlled $105.1 million in assets, including $51.5 million in loans, and had equity of $7.8 million. In 1960, Castro’s Cuban Government began nationalizing every banking institution on the island, including Banco Nuñez, and absorbing them into the state-controlled entity Banco Nacional de Cuba (“BNC”). In 1961, the sole owners of Banco Nuñez, Carlos and Pura Nuñez (the “Founders”), fled Cuba to live in the United States. Now, the Cuban-American heirs of Banco Nuñez are going after Société Générale in court.

According to the Lawsuit, In 1996, the Founders’ children and their families created Plaintiff, a Florida Corporation, to consolidate, unify and hold one-hundred percent of the claim associated with Banco Nuñez— all of which had been inherited from Founder Carlos Nuñez, after his death in 1979.

“DEFENDANT SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE, S.A.’S MOTION TO DISMISS THE AMENDED COMPLAINT PURSUANT TO

FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE 12(b)(1), 12(b)(2) AND 12(b)(6) AND ACCOMPANYING MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT”

“In or around 2000, SocGen created a system of “credit facilities” to enable BNC to circumvent the United States’ economic embargo of Cuba. SocGen’s system involved concealing and processing BNC’s transactions with foreign corporations, and in exchange for this service, SocGen received over $1 billion in profit.”

-Sucesores de Don Carlos Nuñez y Doña Pura Galves, Inc., d/b/a Banco Nuñez V. Société Générale, S.A., d/b/a Société Générale Americas, Case 1:19-cv-22842DPG alleges in the Complaint. “SocGen is liable to Plaintiff for “trafficking” because it conducts commercial activities with BNC and derives profits therefrom,” the Complaint further alleges Defendant Société Générale, S.A., is a French multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Paris, France. Société Générale, S.A. does business in the United States as Société Générale Americas, a Delaware corporation with its headquarters at 245 Park Avenue, New York, New York.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 12

“Defendant, Société Générale, S.A. (“SG”), pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), 12(b)(2), 12(b)(6), and Southern District of Florida Local Rule 7.1, respectfully moves to dismiss the Amended Complaint (“AC”) filed by Plaintiff, Sucesores De Don Carlos Nuñez Y Doña Pura Galvez, Inc., for lack of lack of personal jurisdiction, lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, and failure to state a claim.” Plaintiff attorneys for Banco Nunez file thirty-one page response to Motion To Dismiss by Paris, France-based Societe Generale “SocGen does not dispute that BNC is a trafficker; that’s because it is.”

“LEGAL ARGUMENT

This Court should deny SocGen’s Motion. The reasons to do so are as follows: First, Plaintiff ’s claim is an appropriate action under Helms-Burton. Cuba’s BNC engages in trafficking under Helms-Burton by managing, possessing, and engaging in commercial activity using the Plaintiff ’s equity interests in BNC that resulted from the 1960 uncompensated confiscation of Banco Nuñez and Inmobiliaria Norka, S.A. Helms-Burton liability extends to all entities who participate in or profit from BNC’s trafficking or its related commercial activities, including SocGen. Second, Plaintiff has standing to bring its claim. The injury for which Plaintiff seeks redress—uncompensated trafficking in the Nuñezes’ property—is traceable to SocGen, which is profiting from the illicit trafficking.

Mustery Ilness At U.S. Embassy in Havana

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

following exposure to direct phenomena while serving in Havana, Cuba, between late 2016 and May 2018.

Conclusions and Relevance: Among U.S government personnel in Havana, Cuba, with potential exposure to directional phenomena, compared with healthy controls, advanced brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed significant differences in whole brain white matter volume, regional gray and white matter volumes, cerebellar tissue microstructural integrity, and functional connectivity in the auditory and visuospatial subnetworks but not in the executive control subnetwork. The clinical importance of these differences in uncertain and may require further study.

U.S. Embassy imposed restrictions on lodging in some Havana hotels over alleged health attacks In a communication posted by the U.S. Embassy in Havana Oct. 6, 2017 stated: “Over the past several months, numerous employees at the U.S. Embassy in Havana have been targeted in specific attacks. Affected individuals have exhibited a range of physical symptoms including ear complaints and hearing loss, dizziness, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues, and difficulty sleeping. Attacks have occurred in U.S. diplomatic residences, as well as in two hotels: Hotel Nacional and Hotel Capri. The U.S. government has imposed limitations on lodging at affected hotels.”

U.S. makes staff cuts permanent at Embassy in Havana over health issues of diplomats On Aug. 15, 2015, Secretary of State John Kerry officiated the reopening of the U.S. Embassy that was closed in 1961 when the Eisenhower administration severed diplomatic ties with the government of then 34-year-old Fidel Castro. President Obama’s administration restored diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba.

On November 22, 2019 – The US Department of State published an update

to its Level 2 Travel Advisory for the Republic of Cuba. On November 21, 2019, the ‘Exercise Increased Caution’

notice is related to ‘debilitating injuries incurred by the US diplomatic community while visiting Cuba’ The updeated advisory stated ‘numerous U.S. Embassy Havana employees have exhibited a range of physical symptoms including ear complaints and hearing loss, dizziness, headaches, fatigue, cognitive issues, visual problems, and difficulty sleeping.’ .According to the U.S. Department of State Travel Advisory: “We continue to investigate how the health of our diplomats and their family members was severely and permanently damaged. These symptoms occurred in U.S. diplomatic residences (including a long-term apartment at the Atlantic) and at Hotel Nacional and Hotel Capri in Havana.

The Travel Alert advises that: “If you decide to travel to Cuba: Avoid Hotel Nacional and Hotel Capri. If you experience any acute auditory or sensory phenomena, immediately move to another area.”

Update: Global Health Advisory: Do Not Travel. Avoid all international travel due to the global impact of COVID-19 CUBA Disputes U.S. Claim Of Diplomatic Ilness After the incident was made public, the Cuban Foreign Minister subsequently accused the U.S. of not being truthful about the incident, saying “There is no evidence, there is no evidence whatsoever, of the occurrence of the alleged incidents or the cause or origin of these ailments reported by US diplomats,” adding, “Neither is there any evidence suggesting that these health problems have been caused by an attack of any sort during their stay in Cuba.”

The Havana Syndrome remains a mystery. Meanwhile: U.S. diplomats who mysteriously fell ill in Cuba and China would get long-term emergency health and other benefits under a $1.4 trillion spending bill. “There is still tremendous uncertainty surrounding the circumstances that led to these injuries, but that should in no way prevent our government from caring for those who have sacrificed so much in the line of duty,” said Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who wrote the provision.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 13

U.S. “Scare Tactics” Hindering European Investment Bank Financing In Cuba: EU Ambassador

Credit: eib.org / The Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank (EIB) is the world’s largest international public bank

Diplomatic Times Staff A Mandate by the European Investment Bank to finance investments in Cuba would be the “angel” the socialist nation needs to spark true economic reform, according to Herman Portocarero, former European Union ambassador in Havana. Portocarero served as the European Union’s first full-fledged ambassador to Cuba from 2012-2017 overseeing a diverse portfolio of activities in the political, trade and investment, and development cooperation fields. The former ambassador shared his rich diplomatic experiences in Havana at the Cuba Program Institute of Latin American Studies of Columbia University CUBA AND BEYOND SERIES recently. The EIB is the long-term lending institution of the EU and is owned by EU member states. The EIB is the world’s largest international public bank, supporting development and economic activity in the Caribbean with loans and equity worth nearly EUR 2 Billion over the years. The EIB requires a lending Mandate approved by EU authorities in order to finance investments outside Europe such as in Cuba.

Despite meetings between EIB officials and Cuba over the past few years, EU authorities have failed to green light the required Mandate. Ambassador Portocarero blamed ‘scare tactics’ by the U.S. and the recently activated Title III Helms-Burton Act of 1996.

Helms-Burton allows lawsuits against companies from third countries that operate with goods nationalized by the revolution. Hundreds of Europe-

an companies, most notably are some 200 Spanish businesses including major tourism enterprises such as Iberostar, Meliá and NH -could be targets of the lawsuits.

“It is very difficult to convince a EU bank or private company to take a risk and invest in Cuba because most of them have business interest in the United States. Especially with banks, we came to the conclusion that Helms-Burton is a problem. But the other problem is compliance departments in (EU) banks . They are afraid of their own shadow. And they over-comply. They have to stand up.”

Herman Portocarero, former European Union ambassador to Cuba.

Portocarero explained that prior to his leaving as the EU ambassador to Cuba in 2017, he tried to get Cuba included in the Mandate of the EIB without success to his frustration. Portocarero said Cuba has had to shop around the world to get vital credit lines loans.

“One year Cuba goes with France, another year it is Lithuania. This is not a way to live.”

(Continued On Page 18)

EU Diplomat Reflections On Cuba (Contined from Page 10 )

could pay their bills. This was absurd,” Portocarero said.

got involved in infrastructure, loans, absorbed a lot of Cuban medical aid against payments $200 to $400 million a year which was a lot for the Cuban government. So then the collapse of the left in Brazil (and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Lula government in 2011) was bad luck.

Venezuela was bad politics. Brazil was bad luck,” Portocarero said.

Regarding future Cuba-International Relations, Portocarero stated that the Cubans are waiting for the next move from the U.S. regarding policy, and are not looking to Europe.

Despite historical links with Europe, the vital relationship for Cuba in the long-run is with the United States, Portocarero maintains. The former diplomat said U.S. policy toward Cuba under President Obama held out the most hope for change in the socialist nation.

“The collapse of the left in Brazil effected Cuba deeply, because it was practically the best economic deals they were getting, since access to credit is very difficult for the Cuban government.”

“I was in Cuba during the 2014 U.S. reconciliation and Cubans were crying, hopeful. Then (with President Trump Cuba policy reversals) the entire thing collapsed.”

-Portocarero said.

Whenever I’m back in Havana and we are discussing it, I feel like we are in suspended time again, waiting for the what is next step from the United States. At the end of the day, Cu-

-Portocarero U.S. Helms-Burton and Cuba

Credit: Gary Raynaldo / Herman Portocarero, former European Union ambassador to Cuba.

The U.S. Helms-Burton Act of 1996 greatly exacerbated Cuba’s economic problems by tightening the preexisting US embargo against Havana and prohibiting foreign companies from conducting business with the country.

“WITH THE U.S. Helms Burton is very difficult legislation for foreign parties, constant threats against foreign investors. Imposes huge fines on European banks for doing business with Cuba. Many of the diplomats had difficult time even to transfer money from European banks for our own livelihood. Quite a few European banks flatly refused to do any financial transactions with Cuba. I know some diplomats who went to Europe every once in a while they came back with lots of cash. There was no way they

Credit: Gary Raynaldo / Herman Portocarero, former European Union ambassador to Cuba.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 14

bans are waiting (to see) what is the next step with the United States because it is the vital relationship. For all we can do as Europeans, we have to realize that the vital relationship in Cuban foreign policy will be with the United States.”

Portocarero was born in Antwerp is a Belgian writer and diplomat of Portuguese and Spanish ancestry. He joined the Belgian diplomatic service in 1978. His first posting was with the Belgian permanent representation to UNESCO in Paris. In 1979 he joined the Embassy of Belgium in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 2012 he ended his career as a Belgian diplomat to join the newly created European External Action Service, the diplomatic arm of the European Union. Based on his earlier experiences in Cuba and the Caribbean, as well as on his record in multilateral (UN) diplomacy, he was named the EU’s first full-fledged ambassador to Cuba in July 2012.

EU Dramatically Increases Investments in Cuba As US Isolates The Caribbean Nation DIPLOMATIC TIMES STAFF

WHILE the U.S. under President

Trump is rapidly breaking all political and economic ties with Cuba that his predecessor Barack Obama established, the European Union has substantially increased investments in the socialist nation over the past two years. The EU bloc imported some €470 million worth of Cuban goods in 2017 and exported more than two billion euros’ worth. The Trump administration announced last month it is allowing former owners of commercial property expropriated by Cuba to sue companies and the Cuban government for using or “trafficking” in those confiscated holdings. In March, the U.S. Department of State eliminated the highly sought after 5-year travel visa for Cuban citizens visiting America. The EU has sharply criticized the US for activating, effective today May 2, Title III of the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD). Lawsuits will now be allowed in American courts against Cuban companies using property seized during the 1959 revolution.

CARNIVAL, the Miami-based cruising conglomerate, was sued in feder- Credit: translatingcuba.com / Federica Mogherini and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on a 2018 al court by Mickael Behn and Javier the High Representative of the EU to Havana. (EEAS)

visit of

Garcia-Bengochea, both of whom hold claims certified by the federal government for assets confiscated shortly after the Cuban Revolution.

High Representative/ Vice-President Federica Mogherini spoke to the Foreign Minister of Cuba May 4, 2019.

Mogherini spoke via the phone with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, according to statement from the EU. They exchanged views on the latest developments in Venezuela, also in view of the forthcoming Ministerial Meeting of the International Contact Group (ICG), due to take place on 6-7 May in Costa Rica.

Mogherini and Minister Parrilla also discussed about the decision of the United States to enact Title III of the Helms-Burton (LIBERTAD) Act as well as about the next meeting of the EU-Cuba Joint Council. President Donald Trump signed his new Cuba policy at the Manuel Artime Theateron June 16, 2017 in Miami, where he unveiled the changes he’s making to the Obama-era policies toward Cuba.

The new U.S. policy greatly restricts travel and trade between the two countries. Many U.S. companies invested in Cuba under Obama.

European Union Warns Of Legal Action Against U.S. Over Cuba Property Claims “The decision by the United States to renege on its longstanding commitment to waive Title III of the Helms-Burton (LIBERTAD) Act is regrettable, and will have an important impact on legitimate EU and Canadian economic operators in Cuba. The EU and Canada consider the extraterritorial application of unilateral Cuba-related measures contrary to international law. “ --Joint statement by High Representative / Vice President Federica Moghernini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Chrystia Freeland, Apri.

17, 2019, Brussels.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 15

BRUSSELS AND HAVANA NORMALIZE RELATIONS IN 2016

In the year 2016, the EU dropped its 20-year-old policy on Cuba, which required the country to improve its human rights record before it could strengthen economic ties with member nations. Brussels and Havana signed an agreement to normalize relations and open channels for dialogue and cooperation. Federica Mogherini, the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, the 28 EU foreign ministers and Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez signed and sealed the pact for political dialogue and cooperation.

“Cuba is changing in profound ways. With this agreement, the relationship will reach a new level that will really better reflect the ties between the European Union and Cuba,” Mogherini said in Spanish after the signing ceremony. “For the Cuban economy, the relationship with Europe is a priority,” Cuba’s foreign affairs chief added. The European community is the largest investor in Cuba and its second-largest trade partner after Venezuela.

Spanish Hotel Chains Meliá and Iberostar Oppose U.S. Policy On Property In Cuba -Meliá Cuba Operations Backed By The European Union

Spain Court Tosses Out $10 Million Lawsuit Against Meliá Hotels or illegal. Magistrate’s Court number 24 in Palma de Mallorca issued the Order. Gabriel Escarrer, Vice President and CEO of Meliá, explained in Spanish media reports the importance of the Court decision is it is not only the first to be issued by a Court after the full activation of the Helms-Burton Act, but that according to international and Spanish law, “the Courts of another country are not in a position to review the legality of a law passed in Cuba in 1960 or the acts performed by a sovereign state in implementing that law.” The plaintiffs based their claim on the alleged illegitimate operation of hotels in Cuba on land which was nationalized under Law 890 in 1960 after the Cuban revolution in 1959. The hotels have been managed

by Meliá ever since the late 1980s and early 1990s. Meliá Hotels International was advised by the international law firm Garrigues.

By Gary Raynaldo

DIPLOMATIC TIMES

A COURT in Spain in September 2019 week dismissed a lawsuit against Meliá Hotels International relating to operations in Cuba. The action by the Spanish court could have ramifications for the recently activated U.S. Helms-Burton Act. Descendants of former Cuban businessman Rafael Lucas Sanchez Hill filed a lawsuit in Spain against the Meliá that sought to recover $10 Million as indemnification for Cuba lands seized by the government in 1960, after Fidel Castro seized control of the island. President Trump opened the door in May for lawsuits over Cuban confiscated properties.

The Trump administration announced then it is allowing former owners of commercial property expropriated by Cuba to sue companies and the Cuban government for using or “trafficking” in those confiscated holdings. This was the first lawsuit ever filed in Spain

by Cuban Americans against Spanish companies that benefit from expropriated properties in Cuba. The lawsuit followed the Trump administration’s full implementation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act on May 2. According to the Spanish Court Order, a court in Spain has no authority to determine whether the nationalization conducted by the Cuban state in 1960 was lawful or not. According to the judge, in application of article 21 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ), “the Spanish civil courts do not have jurisdiction to hear the claim that has given rise to this lawsuit” and since it is a property owned by a State “it also has jurisdictional immunity.” The Order further stated that a Spanish Court is not competent to assess, among other things, whether the nationalization carried out by the Cuban government in 1960 was legal

Photo by Gary Raynaldo / Towering, gleaming luxury 401-room Meliá Cohiba Hotel located in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba, just off the Malecón. The hotel opened in 1994. The hotel is a joint venture between Meliá International and the Cuban State.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 16

Meliá Cuba Operations Backed By The European Union Brussels Vows To Protect The Interests Of EU Companies Doing Business In Cuba.

“The decision by the United States to renege on its longstanding commitment to waive Title III of the Helms-Burton (LIBERTAD) Act is regrettable, and will have an important impact on legitimate EU and Canadian economic operators in Cuba.

The EU and Canada consider the extraterritorial application of unilateral Cuba-related measures contrary to international law. “ -Joint statement

by High Representative / Vice President Federica Moghernini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Chrystia Freeland, Apri. 17, 2019, Brussels.

The decision by the Court in Spain is the first action taken by any European Court following the activation of the Helms-Burton Act. .

(Contnued on Page 17)

Meliá Cuba Operations Spain Lawsuit - ( From Page 16) The Plaintiffs who filed the action in Spain are expected to sue in the U.S. under Helms-Burton.

In May 2019, descendants of former Cuban businessman Rafael Lucas Sanchez Hill filed a lawsuit in Spain against the Meliá seeking to recover $10 Million as indemnification for Cuba lands seized by the government in 1960, after Fidel Castro seized control of the island. President Trump opened the door last month for lawsuits over Cuban confiscated properties. The Trump administration announced last month it is allowing former owners of commercial property expropriated by Cuba to sue companies and the Cuban government for using or “trafficking” in those confiscated holdings. The Spanish newspaper El Confidencial reported that it was the first lawsuit ever filed in Spain

by Cuban Americans against Spanish companies that benefit from expropriated properties in Cuba. The lawsuit follows the Trump administration’s full implementation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act on May 2. The law allows owners of properties confiscated by the Castro Revolution to file suits in US courts against entities that “traffic” in those properties. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. won’t renew a ban on litigation that had been in place for two decades.

The Trump administration activated, in May, Title III of the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD). Lawsuits are now allowed in American courts against Cuban companies using property seized during the 1959 revolution. However, Spanish hotel chain Melia Hotels International, in anticipation of the new U.S. policy, issued a statement last month, essentially rejecting the latest American sanctions against Cuba that harden the 60-year economic, financial and trade blockade on the island.

Melia states that it legitimately operates in Cuba. The lawsuit in Spain is not using provisions of Title III of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 Dismissal Of Case In Spain Against Melia Hotels Appealed

On 30 September 2019, the plaintiffs filed an appeal. The case is currently pending. Because the lawsuit will be heard by Spanish courts, it will not be covered by the U.S. Title III. The Sanchez Hill family fled to the U.S. from Cuba after the government expropriated its Santa Lucia sugar mill near the eastern city of Holguín and surrounding lands totaling more than 100,000 acres.

Spain Meliá Hotel CEO Banned From Entering U.S. Over Operations In Cuba Castro-led revolution. According to a report by the Associated Press (AP):

By Gary Raynaldo “The European Union’s ambassador DIPLOMATIC TIMES to Cuba, Alberto Navarro, said he was aware of 14 members of Meliá’s board The Chief Executive Officer and VP of and their families being subject to Spain Meliá Hotels International GaU.S. sanctions.” Melia has operated briel Escarrer has been banned from in the Caribbean island nation for the entering the United States due his past 30 years by managing an increascompany’s investments’s in Cuba. Aping number of hotels, amounting to 39 parently, the action taken last month at present. Melia says it will continue by the U.S. Department of State to to expand in the Cuban market. The sanction Escarrer was made under Tiaction is an escalation of sanctions by tle IV of the U.S. Helms-Burton legthe Trump administration against Haislation, that directs the Department vana. In statements to CGTN, Alberto deny visas to any foreign nationals to Navarro, the E.U. Ambassador in who it believes traffic in confiscated Havana said “This notification issued property in Cuba or are corporate ofagainst Melia’s top executives banning ficers or shareholders of involved entithem from entering the U.S. is absoCredit: hotelmanagement.net / Gabriel Esties. Meliá Hotels said in a statement lutely rejectable,” said the ambassador carrer, Meliá Hotels International CEO that it had been notified last October and he added that “all Spanish and in a letter from the U.S. Department the United States. The administration claimed it European business people, who are of State that if it did “not accept within is enforcing decades-old legislation known as the working on legitimate trade and in45 days a series of conditions related vestment projects in Cuba, will have Helms-Burton Act, which denies U.S. entry to to the activity of subsidiary compathose who have benefited from property confis- the full protection of the European nies in the Republic of Cuba”, its CEO Union by all possible means.” cated in Cuba in the early years of the Fidel would be prohibited from entering

Russia Renews Ties with its Cold War Ally Cuba -Russian-Cuban Trade Doubles Since 2013DIPLOMATIC TIMES STAFF

The Soviet Union was once

known as Cuba’s ‘sugardaddy’ providing its ‘sweetheart’ with economic subsidies and favourable trading arrangements during the Cold War with the U.S. Everything changed abruptly with the demise of the former Communist Soviet Union in 1989 Almost overnight, Russian economic and military aid to Cuba dried up. With the end of the Cold War, Cuba (90-miles from the U.S.) simply was not a priorty for Russia. But over the past fewl years, Moscow and Havana have been getting cozy again in their relationship. Trade between the countries are estimated to reach some $500 million as of 2019.

Russia sells new Ladas to Cuba after 12 year absence from island.

Cuba‘s love affair with the Russian-made Lada continues unabated.

In 2017, Russia’s leading automobile

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 17

Photo Credit: Gary Raynaldo / Russian-made Lada in sudden downpour of rain in Havana

manufacturer AvtoVAZ announced it would deliver a batch of about 300 Lada cars to Cuba. Undoubtedly, it is good news for lovers of the sturdy Eastern European vehicle that is a stable on roads all around Cuba. They are literally everywhere.

“Last time we sold Cuba new cars was 12 years ago, and so the question now is how we can return to this market,” said AvtoVAZ president Nicolas Maure , speaking at an presentation for Cuban transport companies in Havana. in May 2017. The Russia car maker is optimistic Cuba automobile market represents growing demand Cuba has a target of $2 billion in foreign investment a year. “AvtoVAZ is interested in Cuba’s car market because there’s big demand here; moreover Cuba’s ban on imports of new cars was lifted relatively recently,” said Yevgeny Yeskov, chief editor of the website AvtoBusinessReview.

(Continued On Page 18 )

Diplomat Blames US For Hindering EU Credit, Finacing To Cuba

Russia Investment in Cuba (Continued From Page 17)

(Continued From Page 13)

“You need finance to run a country, to feed people. Cuba needs to be part of the international financial system.” he explained.

“The EIB is a purely public institution.

All of the member states are shareholders. So theoretically, they should not be afraid. Nevertheless , when I talked to the EIB, they came with an exploratory mission, and we had the Cubans ready to sign a framework agreement. But the EIB in the end got scared. Why? Because they need access to financial capital markets in New York. And they were afraid if they include Cuba in their lending mandate, they would get into trouble on Wall Street. It is one of the examples where US policy is really stopping the EU from getting involved because access to soft loans is vital for Cuba.

They are not in the World Bank, they are not in the IMF, and they are not in the Caribbean Development Bank.

So the EIB would have been the angel they were expecting to give them affordable loans. And we could not do it because of scare tactics in the US financial world. Its the real world…we have to live with it. I hope my successors can break through that because I could not do it.”

-Herman Portocarero, former European Union ambassador to Cuba said.

Tax System Needed In Cuba To Generate Fiscal Income: Portocarero While serving in Cuba on behalf of the EU, Portocarero helped set up a tax system for the socialist nation that is ready to be put in place. However, Cuban officials have not activated it yet..

“We set up the tax system so that it would be ready for the time to go to activate it. We brought in Spanish specialists to explain things. We set up regional offices with central authority with computers. The other part of my message was you should not overtax the foreign investors to prepare for a different system. Also explain, what ever little the average person can contribute.. but educate people, say (to them) you pay your taxes because you have free health and your kids go to

school. That’s the philosophy. But it is a slow process. Actually, we even printed school books for primary schools explaining what taxes were and that you be a good citizen and you pay your taxes, and you can stay in school and your grandmother can go to the hospital. But this message does not get through. But it’s a slow process.,” he sated.

Cuban Political Elite Resists Tax System

“And the Cubans (political establishment) of course are not ready for it. They don’t want Cubans to be financially independent because you can’t control them politically. I tried to explain to them that the private sector can do it better, and it will give you cash flow to keep your social system in operation.

But that message is not working. And that has been my frustration,” the former diplomat said.

Source: Gary Raynaldo / One of the many, many Ladas on the roads in Cuba

Russia car maker is optimistic Cuba automobile market represents growing demand Cuba has a target of $2 billion in foreign investment a year.

“AvtoVAZ is interested in Cuba’s car market because there’s big demand here; moreover Cuba’s ban on imports of new cars was lifted relatively recently,” said Yevgeny Yeskov, chief editor of the website AvtoBusinessReview.

Russia AvtoVAZ poised to sell as many as 30,000 Vestas to Cuban government

Maure said if Cuba decides to buy more AvtoVAZ vehicles after the first delivery of 300 Vestas, a firm contract could be signed, according to Progreso Weekly. Maure added that his company is prepared to sell as many as 30,000 units to the island government.

The first cars to arrive on the Cuban island will be at the disposal of taxi, rental and tourist companies. Lada cars became popular in Russia and Eastern Europe during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in former Eastern bloc countries.

I

“It’s very simple logic, but they don’t want to take that step because it is giving up control, can’t control people.”

Portocarero added.

While the U.S. under President Trump is rapidly breaking all political and economic ties with Cuba that his predcessor Barack Obama established, the EU has substantially increased investments in the socialist nation over the past two years. However, it has yet to authorize an EU Mandate for EIB financing in Cuba. The EU bloc imported some €470 million worth of Cuban goods in 2017 and exported more than two billion euros’ worth.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O4 MARCH 2020 PAGE 18

Source: Lada / AvtoVAZ is mass producing the Lada Vesta.

Exported worldwide in the 1980s and 1990s, Lada was a big foreign currency earner for the hard-pressed Soviet Union and was used in barter arrangements in some countries. Coca-Cola traded its drinks in exchange for Lada cars which were then shipped to the United Kingdom and sold. More than 60 percent of production was exported, mainly to Western countries (the US was the only large market not to have imported Lada. Cuba: Lada cars appeared in Cuba in the mid 1970s. They became popular in the

’80s and by the end of this decade represented more than 30% of the cars used in the country. The Lada 2101 is used by the police and as taxis.

Source: Gary Raynaldo / China in Cuba auto market One of China-GEELY automaker’s ‘Emgrand’brand auto used as a taxi in Havana. GEELY is China’s biggest privately owned car maker..