Helms-Burton Act

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The Helms-Burton Act , officially called the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 , is a law of March 1996 that tightened the United States' embargo on Cuba . Named after its initiators, Senator Jesse Helms and House Representative Dan Burton , named package of measures, was signed by President Bill Clinton after it was passed by Congress . Essential elements of the law were only approved for implementation by President Donald Trump in May 2019 .

background

Under US President John F. Kennedy, the USA introduced extensive economic embargo policies against Cuba as early as 1960. The Torricelli Act in 1992 tightened sanctions against Cuba. The Helms-Burton Act is a further tightening of the sanctions.

Two days before then US President Bill Clinton wanted to veto this law, the Cuban military killed four members of the Cuban exile organization Brothers to the Rescue when two unarmed American civilian aircraft were shot down in international airspace on February 24, 1996 according to Cuba, violated the Cuban airspace. On the same day that the planes were shot down, the first national meeting of the dissident organization Concilio Cubano was to take place in Cuba . In a Time interview immediately after the incident, Fidel Castro described the downing of the aircraft as "an unavoidable necessity [...], although it was known that the USA would politically exploit this."

Content

The law consists of four thematically separated sections:

  • Section I contains measures to tighten the economic embargo and a ban on indirect financing in favor of Cuba.
  • Section II defines the minimum requirements to be met by the Cuban state before the embargo is lifted, including the creation of an independent judiciary and the approval of free trade unions.
  • Section III gives US citizens (including naturalized) the right to sue foreign companies in US courts for using property expropriated after the revolution.
  • Section IV empowers the Secretary of State to exclude foreigners involved in or benefiting from expropriations of US citizens' property in Cuba from residing in the US.

Adoption and temporary suspension

The bill was first approved by the Senate on October 19, 1995, then passed by the House of Representatives on March 6, 1996, and signed by President Clinton on March 12, 1996 , making it effective immediately. However, Clinton suspended the ability to file lawsuits against foreign companies under Section III for a period of six months. This practice was subsequently repeated by him and his successors George W. Bush , Barack Obama and Donald Trump until Trump announced a policy change in April 2019 and Section III of the law has also been in effect since May 2, 2019.

International reactions

The Helms-Burton Act has been condemned by the Council of Europe, the EU , Canada , Mexico , Argentina and other countries that have normal trade relations with Cuba. Criticism also came from human rights organizations. To counteract the effects of the law, Canada and Mexico, two of Cuba's most important trading partners, passed their own laws. In November 1996, the EU passed Regulation 2271/96, called the EU Blocking Regulation or Anti-Boycott Regulation, which expressly forbids EU residents or legal entities from complying with the prohibitions of the Helms-Burton Act or decisions based on it.

See also

Web links

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  1. ↑ Bert Hoffmann : Foreign policy, international relations and the relationship with the USA. In: Ette, Franzbach: Cuba today. P. 169 f.
  2. ^ Robert Dover, Justin Frosini: The Extraterritorial Effects of Legislation and Policies in the EU and US. (PDF), Study on behalf of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, Brussels 2012 (English), p. 21
  3. ^ Roll Call Votes On Passage of the Bill (HR927 as Amended). Voting minutes of the Senate of October 19, 1995, accessed on October 5, 2013 (English)
  4. ↑ Final Vote Results for Roll Call 47. Voting minutes of the House of Representatives from March 6, 1996, accessed on October 5, 2013 (English)
  5. ↑ HR27. Documentation of the legislative process on the website of the Library of Congress, accessed October 5, 2013
  6. ↑ America Service: Suspension of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act. Website of the US Embassy in Germany, July 16, 1996, accessed May 7, 2019
  7. ↑ Werner J. Marti: Trump wants dispossessed Cubans in exile to be compensated after 60 years. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from May 7, 2019
  8. ↑ Regulation (EC) No. 2271/96 of the Council of 22 November 1996 on the protection against the effects of the extraterritorial application of legal acts adopted by a third country and of measures based thereon or resulting therefrom . ( EUR-Lex ).