Florida Hardliners Pressure Supreme Court Ahead of Havana Docks Case Review.

Florida congressional members, led by Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), submitted an amicus brief — a third party legal argument meant to influence the justices— urging the Supreme Court to rule against four major U.S. cruise lines that took hundreds of thousands of travelers to Cuba between 2016 and 2019. Title III of the Helms-Burton Act allows U.S. claimants to sue companies that “benefit” from doing business on properties nationalized after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Díaz-Balart said he seeks to “defend the rule of law, protect U.S. property rights, and support the victims of the Cuban dictatorship’s criminal conduct.” Title III has created an investment chill, with foreign companies strongly deterred from doing business that could leave them legally exposed. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the cruise lines lawsuit within the next twelve months. The suit was filed in 2020 by the descendants of Sosthenes Behn, a telecoms tycoon who, according to The New York Times, was the first “representative of American finance” to meet with Adolf Hitler. Behn helped “build up the Nazi war machine” through investments in German communications and armaments, according to Anthony Sampson’s book The Sovereign State of ITT. Before the 1959 revolution, Behn held a lease on three docks in Havana — now serving as a cruise terminal. A Miami judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in 2023, but last year, the ruling was reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. For more, read our article on Havana Docks.