§ 6081. — Findings.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 22USC6081]
TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE
CHAPTER 69A--CUBAN LIBERTY AND DEMOCRATIC SOLIDARITY (LIBERTAD)
SUBCHAPTER III--PROTECTION OF PROPERTY RIGHTS OF UNITED STATES NATIONALS
Sec. 6081. Findings
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Individuals enjoy a fundamental right to own and enjoy
property which is enshrined in the United States Constitution.
(2) The wrongful confiscation or taking of property belonging to
United States nationals by the Cuban Government, and the subsequent
exploitation of this property at the expense of the rightful owner,
undermines the comity of nations, the free flow of commerce, and
economic development.
(3) Since Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959--
(A) he has trampled on the fundamental rights of the Cuban
people; and
(B) through his personal despotism, he has confiscated the
property of--
(i) millions of his own citizens;
(ii) thousands of United States nationals; and
(iii) thousands more Cubans who claimed asylum in the
United States as refugees because of persecution and later
became naturalized citizens of the United States.
(4) It is in the interest of the Cuban people that the Cuban
Government respect equally the property rights of Cuban nationals
and nationals of other countries.
(5) The Cuban Government is offering foreign investors the
opportunity to purchase an equity interest in, manage, or enter into
joint ventures using property and assets some of which were
confiscated from United States nationals.
(6) This ``trafficking'' in confiscated property provides badly
needed financial benefit, including hard currency, oil, and
productive investment and expertise, to the current Cuban Government
and thus undermines the foreign policy of the United States--
(A) to bring democratic institutions to Cuba through the
pressure of a general economic embargo at a time when the Castro
regime has proven to be vulnerable to international economic
pressure; and
(B) to protect the claims of United States nationals who had
property wrongfully confiscated by the Cuban Government.
(7) The United States Department of State has notified other
governments that the transfer to third parties of properties
confiscated by the Cuban Government ``would complicate any attempt
to return them to their original owners''.
(8) The international judicial system, as currently structured,
lacks fully effective remedies for the wrongful confiscation of
property and for unjust enrichment from the use of wrongfully
confiscated property by governments and private entities at the
expense of the rightful owners of the property.
(9) International law recognizes that a nation has the ability
to provide for rules of law with respect to conduct outside its
territory that has or is intended to have substantial effect within
its territory.
(10) The United States Government has an obligation to its
citizens to provide protection against wrongful confiscations by
foreign nations and their citizens, including the provision of
private remedies.
(11) To deter trafficking in wrongfully confiscated property,
United States nationals who were the victims of these confiscations
should be endowed with a judicial remedy in the courts of the United
States that would deny traffickers any profits from economically
exploiting Castro's wrongful seizures.
(Pub. L. 104-114, title III, Sec. 301, Mar. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 814.)
