One Woman’s Claim to Cuba
Claims of those whose assets were seized by Castro are overlooked hurdles in normalizing U.S.-Cuba relations.
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In 2005, a Midwestern university received a federal grant to study an aspect of Fidel Castro’s revolution that is oddly being overlooked these days.
To the victor goes the spoils, and so when Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista, he soon seized the country’s assets as well. That meant land, railroads, production plants, hotels, and utilities owned by U.S. and other foreign interests. Payback for the pilfering is the theoretical basis for the economic embargo that has curtailed relations between the U.S. and Cuba for five decades.
USAID commissioned Creighton University in Omaha, Nebreaska to study what should happen with the claims by rightful owners should Cuba ever establish a government that the U.S. would deem acceptably democratic. And as the university undertook its work, one employee there found herself immersed in what could become a grating annoyance, if not an all-out halt, to those eager for a Cuba free of U.S. economic sanctions. What’s more, it seems Carolyn Lamb has a growing cadre of people behind her efforts.
Lamb, an event planner for Creighton, holds one of the more than 5,900 claims against what Castro nationalized. The U.S. Treasury in 1972 approved as valid claims that were estimated to have a total value of $1.8 billion. Interest has raised their estimated worth to $6 billion.
But many of the corporations holding the largest claims have merged or no longer exist. Their one-time CEOs are dead. In some families, descendents of the original claim-holders have lost sight of the significance of the claims, striking them down as family lore.
That isn’t stopping Lamb. She has created a website, operates a blog, and has acquired a database of the original claimants and is tracking them down, one by one. Some of those contacted are thrilled, and more than a few are well-connected enough that Lamb’s work is gathering strength and influence.
Efforts are underway to hire a lobbyist. With politicians and investors practically salivating at the idea of an open and free Cuba, that’s just what the activists will need to further their intentions.
Lamb’s deceased father, Edmund Chester, was a CBS radio and television executive credited with opening up South and Central American markets. He bought 4,400 shares of stock in Cuba’s telephone system, a year before Castro came to power. He also owned land. In 1967, the stock alone was valued at $490,000.
Lamb knew about the land deeds her family held, and she assumed the stock was in some sort of frozen account status. She’d never heard of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, the U.S. entity that oversees the claims. That is, not until law and political science professors at Creighton began their work.
The way will likely get ugly. There is evidence that foreign hedge funds have tried to buy up the claims, convincing uninformed descendents to the claims that they are not valuable. Lamb has a lawsuit against an international corporation that was the telephone company’s dominant shareholder and has subsequently found ways to still deal in Cuba, despite the embargo.
Among the ideas discussed in the Creighton study is the possibility of congressional action to alter previous agreements on what constitutes a “democratic Cuba.”
That might be necessary, along with a loan from the U.S. or international banks, to satisfy the claims before U.S-Cuba relations can normalize.
Lamb is rightfully offended that the claims are rarely, if ever mentioned by congressional leaders who in growing numbers are visiting Cuba and returning their eyes aglow with future investment possibilities.
The default assumption among many seems to be that expecting repayment from the Castro brothers is foolhardy. It’s an interesting position given that resolving the claims is tied to the action the U.S. has arrogantly clung to for 50 years now—the largely ineffective economic sanctions.
To not address the claimants appropriately would be the lynchpin in the long history of U.S. political failures regarding Cuba.
2009-06-24 18:14:09
There's another way to pay off these inflated claims. Convince the US government to end the half-century US blockade on Cuba and pay it the over $93 billion in documented damage it has caused the island's economy, with the condition that a portion go to paying off such claims. For more on Cuba from Cuba see: www.havanatimes.org
2009-06-24 18:48:11
The claims against Cuba present more of an obstacle for the USA. As many in Miami and elsewhere rejoice in judgments against the Cuban government, it is Cuba and the Cuban families of citizens murdered by US and proxies actions as well as Cubans suffering under the economic embargo or blockade as is known in Cuba. Should we go back to the 20,000 or more Cubans murdered by the Batista Dictatorship well funded and supplied by the USA? What about the USA's harboring of terrorist Posada Carriles? Are the families of those blown up in mid air due any compensation? Cuba has most to win in any fair and just Claims scenario.
2009-06-25 07:46:05
All these "claims" are nonsense. As this report says, the spoils of war goes to the victors. Their "claims" were settled by their action to flee; that is, they ran way leaving it behind for the victors to use as they pleased. Why didn't they stay and fight for what was "theirs"?
2009-06-25 13:32:53
When the "victors" show up on your property armed with rifles, and are backed up by the government, what is one supposed to do? The claimants are portrayed as wealthy corporations or worse, exploitative landowners, but in reality, these were hard-working, middle class business owners who lost their family businesses and homes.
2009-06-25 14:17:32
I imagine that you would not be calling these claims an obstacle or nonsense, if it happened to you and your family. Did you know that the claimants are? Take a look at who he took from on the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission's website and you will see that even an order of nuns and priest had their properties confiscated. Do you have something bad to say about them?
2009-06-26 06:28:42
Just wondering how much is Castro worth? I know he's been hiding his money all over the world, but I forget just what his net worth is? Does anybody know?
2009-07-01 12:32:06
NEW YORK (Reuters) — Cuban President Fidel Castro was furious when Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at $550 million last year. This year, the magazine upped its estimate of the communist leader's wealth to a cool $900 million.
2009-08-14 11:28:25
As the heir NOT to a large pre-Castro fortune I look forward to reclaining the beach property in Varadero stolen from my family at gunpoint by Fidel's minions. I estimate he took the equivalent of about two parking spaces now part of a European run hotel. We had a one room bungalow that was too importnt to the revolution to stay in private hands. To all of those apologists out there, even though Batista was a crook and corrupt, praising Castro is like the pot calling the kettle black. Yes Batista murdered many people, but the blood on Castro's hands is magnitudes greater. Did Batista ever set up local "paredons"? NO. There are at least 1,500 verified death sentances signed by Che available for review on the internet. They are all from Castro's first year in power.
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