MIAMI — President Donald Trump threatened military intervention in Cuba, including a naval blockade of fuel shipments, prompting negotiations between the U.S. and Cuban governments. The talks include potential legal claims by Cuban Americans for properties seized after Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

The blockade of fuel shipments has reduced fuel imports to Cuba, contributing to economic difficulties on the island. Cuba signaled willingness to discuss U.S. property claims as part of broader compensation talks concerning damages from the U.S. trade embargo, which was enacted in 1962.

In 1972, the U.S. Justice Department certified 5,913 claims for $1.9 billion, including corporations such as ExxonMobil and Marriott International. Under U.S. law, those claims are worth $10 billion today and must be resolved for restoration of full economic and diplomatic relations with Cuba. The executive branch is authorized to assume control of private losses for a lump-sum payment and include the dispute in any settlement with Havana.

Castro's nationalization drive seized assets ranging from oil refineries and the telephone system to hair salons and shoeshine stands. In November 1960, an agent of Castro's revolution arrived at Pedroso Bank in Havana with a machine gun and demanded the Valdes-Fauli family leave, seizing the bank. "They told them this was now the people's bank." said Raul Valdes-Fauli, an attorney and former mayor of Coral Gables. "They couldn't even take family pictures off the walls of their office."

Title III of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 allows exiles to sue companies trafficking in property confiscated by Cuba. U.S. presidents prior to Trump suspended Title III due to objections from U.S. allies doing business in Cuba. Trump lifted the suspension in 2019, and approximately 50 lawsuits have since been filed. Two cases were argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2026. Exxon brought a case seeking $1 billion from Cuban state-owned entities, and Havana Docks filed a lawsuit against four cruise lines that paid Cuba to disembark nearly 1 million tourists at a port once operated by the company.

Interest in litigation over Cuban property claims has increased among Cuban Americans, many of whom believe 2026 could be the year of regime change. Nick Gutiérrez, president of the National Association of Cuban Landowners in Exile, advises Cuban exile families on seeking compensation for properties collectivized by the revolution. "A lot of it just fell on deaf ears," Gutiérrez said of decades of earlier efforts. "Now we're talking about the existential issue of whether the Cuban dictatorship will survive until next month," he said.

Robert Muse, a Washington attorney specializing in U.S. laws relating to Cuba, described the complexity of the process. "Untangling property claims in Cuba is akin to battling a multiheaded hydra," Muse said. "You can't have a restitution remedy for hundreds of thousands of claimants."

Younger Cuban American entrepreneurs have shown interest in investing in and rebuilding Cuba. Trump has longstanding friendships with Cuban Americans among his supporters. "However if Havana's stated aim to attract foreign capital is sincere, it has incentives to cut deals with Cuban Americans willing to invest in the country," Gutiérrez said.