|
|
| January 1959 |
Revolutionary force led by Fidel
Castro takes control of Cuba.
|
| 1959-1960 |
The Castro government seizes
virtually all private property owned in Cuba. Compensation
for these expropriated properties of U.S. citizens and corporations
has never been made or offered as required under international
law. Cuba has made settlements with all countries except the
United States.
|
| October 1960 |
U.S. government imposes a partial
trade embargo against Cuba.
|
| January 1961 |
Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 passed in response to Cuban
government confiscation without compensation of U. S. properties.
|
| February 1962 |
President Kennedy applies 1917 Trading
With The Enemy Act to impose a total trade embargo
on Cuba.
The U.S. government freezes $162 million of Cuban assets in
the United States (compared to approximately $1.8 billion
of U.S. property seized by Cuba without compensation in 1959
and 1960).
|
| February 1963 |
Travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens
is prohibited.
|
| July 1963 |
The U.S. government freezes all
Cuban-owned assets in the U.S. (approximately $180 million).
|
| October 1964 |
Congress amends the Foreign Claims
Settlement Act to establish a Cuban Claims Program, under which
the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission is given authority
to adjudicate the validity and amount of claims by U.S. nationals
against the Cuban government.
|
| 1966-1972 |
The Foreign Claims Settlement
Commission receives 8,816 claims, of which 87% are from individual
U.S. citizens. The Cuban Claims Program certifies 5,911 of
these claims, totaling $1.8 billion. Individual claimants
represented 5,013 claims or 85% of the total certified claims.
|
| June 1975 |
Joint Corporate Committee on
Cuban Claims officially organized to support the rights of certified
claimants.
|
| February 1976 |
Under a new constitution, Castro
becomes head of the government as President of the Council
of Ministers, commander of the armed forces, and First Secretary
of the communist party. The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) is
institutionalized within the formal governmental structure.
|
| March 1977 |
U.S. government lifts prohibition
on travel to Cuba and allows U.S. citizens to spend $100 on
Cuban goods during their visits.
|
| September 1977 |
The United States and Cuba open
interests sections in each other’s capitals.
|
| July 1978 |
State Department issues GIST
statement... defined as the essence of: "The embargo
will not be ended, however, until the claims of U.S. citizens
and corporations for losses suffered though expropriations are
resolved".
|
| April 1982 |
The U.S. government effectively
bans travel to Cuba by prohibiting monetary expenditures in
Cuba by U.S. citizens.
|
| August 1988 |
President Reagan signs a trade
act ending licensing requirements for importing recordings,
printed material, and other media from Cuba.
|
| November 1989 |
The Treasury Department limits
travel-related expenses of U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba at
$100 per day.
|
| December 1991 |
The Soviet Union terminates economic
subsidies to Cuba worth approximately $6 billion annually.
|
| October 1992 |
Congress passes the Cuban
Democracy Act, which prohibits foreign-based subsidiaries
of U.S. companies from trading with Cuba.
|
| February 1995 |
State
Department Buyer Beware Cable warning foreign governments
of the possible sale of U.S property held by the Cuban government.
|
|
February 1996
|
Cuban MiGs shoot down two unarmed
Brothers to the Rescue planes over international waters. |
| March 1996 |
President Clinton signs the
Cuban Liberty and
Democratic Solidarity Act (Libertad) , also known as
the Libertad Act.
|
|
February 1997
|
Families of the Brothers to the
Rescue pilots are awarded $187 million from the Cuban government
for the wrongful deaths of the pilots. |
| April 1997 |
The European
Union suspends its World Trade Organization
(WTO) case against the Libertad Act and other U.S. legislation
at great cost to U.S. certified claimants.
|
| May 1998 |
U.S./EU
Agreement signed in London
by President Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and
European Commission President Jacques Santer to inhibit and
deter investment in all expropriated properties after May 18,
1998.
|
| July 1998 |
Excerpts from remarks by
David W. Wallace, Chairman of the Joint Corporate Committee
on Cuban Claims, at a Policy Forum sponsored by The Institute
for U.S.-Cuba Relations outline how this Agreement hurts rather
than helps U.S. certified claimants.
|
|
February 2001
|
The U.S. government authorizes
the transfer of approximately $90 million in frozen Cuban assets
to the families of the three Brothers to the Rescue pilots. |
|
|
|
