By Claude Mills, Staff ReporterTHE SUPERCLUBS resort chain is still locked in negotiations with the U.S. State Department over a threat levied by the Bush administration to cancel the United States visas of top officers over the hotel's real estate investments in Fidel Castro-led Cuba.
"The situation is still the same, we are in correspondence with the State Department, and we are sure the matter will be resolved soon," Zein Issa-Nakash, vice-president of marketing and environmental affairs at SuperClubs, told The Gleaner on Tuesday.
She declined any further comment on the scope and progress of the negotiations.
Last week, the Bush administration notified the Issa-owned resort SuperClubs that its top officers would be denied entry into the United States because of investments the company made on property confiscated from Americans in Cuba.
The newspaper reports also indicated that spouses and shareholders could lose visas too.
Interestingly, trade attorney Fern Anne Chin Yee believes that there may be an avenue for countries to challenge the United States over the Helms-Burton Act by dragging the superpower before the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The Helms-Burton law is designed to discourage foreign companies from investing in Cuba on properties confiscated from Americans.
A GOOD CASE CAN BE PRESENTED
"It is likely that a good case can be presented that the law violates the WTO Agreement. However, the WTO Agreement stipulates that as a pre-requisite, WTO members must first consult with each other and attempt to resolve the dispute, before requesting that a panel should hear and decide the matter," Fern Anne Chin Yee said.
In the past, the United States has sent warning letters to Mexico's Cemex and Grupo Domos, Netherlands' ING Bank, Canada's Sheritt International, Israel's GM Groups, Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, and Italy's Societa Finanziaria Telefonica.
"In response some companies have reportedly agreed to indemnify U.S. citizens for expropriated property, others have provided proof that their activities do not concern expropriated property, and others have stopped doing business with Cuba, or divested their assets to avoid contravening the U.S. law," Ms. Chin Yee said.
Some countries have taken the position that the U.S. law violates basic principles of international law, including territorial sovereignty and extraterritorial jurisdiction over foreign entities, and also violates the WTO Agreement. Other countries such as Canada, Mexico, Argentina and the EU have introduced legislation to counteract the US law.
In the meantime, the United States Embassy has remained tight-lipped on the issue. "The embassy has nothing else to add at this point," Natalie Rose, a representative in the Public Affairs section of the U.S. Embassy in Kingston said.
