When Castro seized power in 1959, his government nationalized everything it could — oil refineries, sugar mills, power plants, ports — much of it American-owned. The owners were never compensated.
In 1996, Congress passed the Helms-Burton Act with a powerful clause called Title III. It allowed Americans to sue not just Cuba, but anyone — foreign companies, cruise lines, hotel chains — who profited from their confiscated property.
There was a catch. Every president from Clinton to Obama suspended Title III to avoid angering allies whose companies had invested in Cuba. The law sat unused for over two decades — until Trump activated it in 2019, triggering roughly 40 lawsuits.
Two have now reached the Supreme Court. ExxonMobil is suing a Cuban state firm for over $1 billion in seized oil assets. A dock company claims $440 million from Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and MSC for using nationalized port facilities after Obama reopened Cuba travel.
Supporters — conservatives and the Cuban-American diaspora — call it overdue justice for theft that was never remedied. Critics — on the left and among allied governments — say it weaponizes Cold War grievances and tightens an embargo that punishes ordinary Cubans without changing their government.
The ruling matters far beyond Cuba. If the court strengthens Title III, it sets a precedent for how the U.S. legal system treats nationalized property worldwide — and signals that assets seized by revolutionary governments may never truly be beyond reach, no matter how many decades pass.