WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- President Bush late Wednesday continued until August a prohibition that bars Americans from suing companies or people who control property in Cuba once owned by Americans.
A 1996 law, written by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., gives Americans the right to sue anyone who sized uses property seized after Fidel Castro took control of the island nation in 1959. The law also gives the president authority to waive enforcement of the ban.
This decision was "necessary to the national interests of the United States and will expedite a transition to democracy in Cuba," Bush said in a letter sent to Congress Wednesday night.
Bush decided for the second time not to change the policy. Former President Bill Clinton imposed the six-month suspension 10 times after signing the legislation into law during his second term. The Helms-Burton law requires the president to waive or enforce Title III at six-month intervals.
Both Helms and Burton have led the call for tougher U.S. actions against Castro's government since Cuban fighter planes shot down two civilian aircraft in 1996 that were piloted by Cuban exiles from Miami.
