Cuba-U.S. Settlement Claims

Guest: Evan Ward, PhD, BYU History Professor  Already, the long-estranged nations have re-opened embassies in each other’s borders and restored travel by air and sea. But there’s a two-billion-dollar hurdle standing in the way of a full-thawing between the US and Cuba.  Two billion dollars is the value of America company assets seized by Fidel Castro’s government in the early 1960s. Texaco, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive and even Disney claim to have had factories, mills, homes and even rail-lines taken by the Castro regime. Those seizures are a big reason the US cut economic ties with Cuba. And now, for the first time in 50 years, formal talks are underway to resolve the claims. Until there’s a settlement, the US trade embargo can’t be lifted.