After four years of Trump Administration efforts to increase sanctions on Cuba and reverse Obama-era efforts to normalize bilateral ties, the Biden White House last Thursday announced its own plans to review Cuba policy and...more
The Cuban government recently announced reforms designed to spur private sector growth on the island, amidst ongoing efforts to begin lifting restrictions on daily life imposed in response to the emergence of the novel...more
On August 5, 2019, President Trump issued an Executive Order to further target and affect the Government of Venezuela led by Nicolás Maduro. The new Executive Order was followed by 12 amended general licenses and 13 new...more
As noted in Helms-Burton Title III Comes to Life, U.S.–Cuba relations have been deteriorating steadily since 2017, a trend that has accelerated recently in response to developments in Venezuela. In addition to Title III,...more
While the ongoing struggle for control over the Venezuelan state between embattled President Nicolas Maduro and National Assembly leader and interim President Juan Guaidó has captured the world’s attention in recent weeks, a...more
For the first time in 23 years, the United States government announced on April 17, 2019, its intention to activate Title III of the Cuban Liberty and Solidarity Act of 1996, popularly known as Helms-Burton. This...more
As noted in ”A Shifting Landscape: Recent Developments Raise Questions about Venezuela’s Future,” the United States has moved in recent weeks to increase pressure on embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro through the...more
The recent ascension of Venezuelan National Assembly president and opposition figure, Juan Guaidó, as interim president of the republic has raised legitimate questions regarding the future composition of the Venezuelan...more
While senior administration officials have repeatedly assured the business community that the president does not want to disrupt the ongoing Cuba-related activity of companies operating in compliance with U.S. law, recent...more
When President Barack Obama established diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States in December 2014, many thought the early business opportunities would be in sugar, cigar, and new tourist hotels. But one of the...more
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently published a series of revisions to the Cuba sanctions regime that appear to...more
On February 13, 2015, the U.S. State Department issued new regulations regarding goods and services eligible for export from Cuba to the United States. The new regulations open a new chapter in U.S.–Cuba trade relations that...more
The United States government this morning published new regulations greatly easing U.S. restrictions on travel to Cuba as part of broader efforts to implement policy directives issued by President Obama in mid-December. ...more
On December 17, President Obama announced sweeping changes to U.S.–Cuba policies that will usher in a new era in bilateral relations between the two countries. In the coming months, the United States will move to re-establish...more
New National Poll Shows Broad Support for Overhaul of Cuba Policy -
Akerman’s Pedro A. Freyre and Matthew D. Aho yesterday authored an opinion piece for the Washington D.C.-based Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht Latin...more
Law to Punish Companies with Cuba Ties Struck Down -
Last week, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami declared unconstitutional a 2012 Florida law intended to prevent foreign companies with ties to Cuba — or...more
Cuba Details Rules for Special Economic Zone -
The Cuban government last week released details of customs reforms for a long-planned free trade industrial manufacturing and maritime shipping facility in the Mariel...more
Cuban President Raúl Castro's announcement last Sunday that he will retire in 2018, coupled with his decision to promote apparent successor Miguel Díaz-Canel, 52, to first vice president of the ruling Council of State, is a...more