Will Cuba Compensate for Confiscated Properties Amidst Regime Crisis?

The issue of properties seized by Cuba's government following the 1959 Revolution has reemerged on the diplomatic stage in 2026. This resurgence, as analyzed by The New York Times, is fueled by the terminal crisis facing Havana's regime, comments from Cuban officials, and an impending decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Cuba's Deputy Foreign Minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, recently suggested that Havana might be open to a one-time payment to the U.S. to compensate claimants. However, he emphasized that any agreement would hinge on lifting the embargo, ending sanctions, and allowing new investments.

The Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, encapsulated the government's stance with a telling phrase: "This is a two-way street."

Attorneys in Miami representing claimants have expressed doubt about the sincerity of Cuba's proposal, suggesting it might be a negotiation ploy rather than a genuine offer. This aligns with analysis on Havana's dual-track approach.

The scale of claims is vast. The New York Times highlights the case of Cuban Teo A. Babún, Jr., whose family hired consultants to estimate that by 2018, the value of their lost properties in Cuba reached hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Babún family owned the second-largest sawmill in Oriente, the construction company Diamante S.A., the factory Cementos Nacionales S.A., the Sevilla estate, and the shipping line in Santiago de Cuba.

In 2019, the regime attempted to discredit Babún in the official newspaper Granma, labeling him a "mercenary."

The U.S. Department of Justice has certified 5,913 valid claims, with an estimated value of between $8.5 billion and $10 billion, including accrued interest at 6% annually.

The ten largest claims—belonging to companies like Cuban Electric Company, ITT, ExxonMobil, and Starwood Hotels—amount to nearly $960 million.

Additionally, there are estimated to be between 200,000 and 300,000 claims from Cuban-Americans who were Cuban nationals at the time of expropriations, a group explicitly excluded from Cuba's proposal, causing frustration within the Cuban-American community.

In March 2026, statements by President Donald Trump spurred over 500 families to file claims through the company 1898 Compañía de Recuperaciones Patrimoniales, highlighting a resurgence in claims following Trump's comments.

Jordi Cabarrocas, an expert from the same company, has suggested alternative solutions such as monetary compensation or land swaps without evictions, leveraging available land that the regime has not developed.

"No one will be evicted," declared Cabarrocas in March 2026, ruling out scenarios of mass physical restitution.

The central legal framework is Title III of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which had been suspended for decades and was reactivated by the Trump administration in May 2019 and again in January 2025. This allows for lawsuits in U.S. federal courts against companies "trafficking" in confiscated properties in Cuba.

The U.S. Supreme Court conducted oral arguments on February 23, 2026, in two pivotal 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.

Meanwhile, Cuba counters with its own claims for damages from the embargo, which the Cuban government estimates at $157 billion. They insist that any agreement must be "holistic" and reciprocal, according to analyses on the potential end of the regime and the reopening of the wounds from property seizures.

The first actual compensation under the Helms-Burton Act occurred on May 27, 2021, when an American family reached a settlement with LafargeHolcim for the use of confiscated properties from 1960, with compensation estimated between $50 million and $60 million—the only concrete precedent in over six decades of unresolved conflict.