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Spanish hotel companies in Cuba armour themselves against Trump's wager

| News | Corporate Law and M&A / Cuban Desk

Ignacio Aparicio analyzes possible claims against tourism companies with interests in the island after the activation of the Helms-Burton Act

Eight months have already passed since the president of the United States gave his order to the Cuban government with the reactivation of Article III of the controversial Helms-Burton Act last May, and companies in the sector with interests on the island are arming themselves with potential claims. The activation of the point in the Act that allows for compensation for expropriated assets generated a tsunami among companies with a presence in Cuba and, although for the moment it has had no real effect on Spanish companies, the sector is preparing to do battle and, with the help of the legal firms, is designing a roadmap if the dispute is revived in the courts.

The chains most potentially affected are Meliá, which has 38 hotels on the island, and Iberostar, which manages 17. Barceló, meanwhile, has three hotels in Cuba. The dismissal of the claim by Havana Docks Corporation against Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC for the use of the Havana cruise ship terminal shows that the judges are not finding solid grounds to support the claims.

Ignacio Aparicio, a partner at Andersen Tax & Legal, recalls that much alarm was created when the law was activated in May 2019, "but the expected flood of lawsuits has not been such in view of the ongoing ones, compared to the 6,000 claims certified before the U.S. foreign claims office".

You can read the full article in Expansión

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