Certified Claims Against Cuba Getting New Attention

Certified Claims Against Cuba Getting New Attention
By Kent Cooper
Posted at 12:14 p.m. on June 18

As the Obama administration moves to improve agriculture shipments,
telecom service and direct mail with Cuba, others are lobbying for an
equal improvement and consideration of longtime claims against Cuba.

These certified claims against Cuba have been languishing while other
interactions and financial activity has moved forward. Estimates of
money being transferred from those in the U.S. to those in Cuba are as
high as $2 billion a year. Informal trade and shipments of products from
the U.S. to Cuba may be even higher.

The law and public policy firm of Poblete Tamargo LLP has registered
yesterday to lobby for Hon. John L. Loeb Jr.on the topic of claims
against the government of Cuba. Loeb is a businessman, philanthropist
and former U.S. ambassador to Denmark.

There are $1.7 billion in original certified claims against Cuba, and
the amount jumps to $7 billion when interest is included. These
certified claims are mostly from businesses but there are some from
individuals. Even after a Bush administration transition study, there
has been little action on the certified claims.

Jason Poblete (formerly with Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., and the House
Administration Committee) and Mauricio Tamargo (formerly with Rep.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and also the Foreign Claims Settlement
Commission) are the lobbyists working on educating legislators on the issue.

Source: "Certified Claims Against Cuba Getting New Attention | Political
MoneyLine Blog" -
http://blogs.rollcall.com/moneyline/certified-claims-against-cuba-getting-new-attention/