Cuba’s economy is collapsing, and its government assets in the United States remain largely frozen. But U.S. corporations have a right to seek compensation from assets the Cuban government seized from American companies more than six decades ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 23, 2026.

In Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Corporación Cimex, a majority of six justices ruled that the oil and gas giant could sue Cuban government agencies and state-owned companies for operating a refinery, terminals and gas stations that Fidel Castro’s regime took from its predecessor, Standard Oil, in 1960.

I am a law professor who teaches international and comparative law with a focus on Latin America, and I study transnational dispute resolution. Although the Supreme Court has now confirmed that Americans can sue Cuban state-owned companies in U.S. courts, I think it’s worth observing that winning a lawsuit and collecting on it are two different things.

Helms-Burton loophole

This was the second of two decisions regarding U.S. property rights in Cuba that the court decided in the 2025-2026 term.

That they were heard at all might be surprising because the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, a 1976 law, generally shields foreign governments and their entities from lawsuits in U.S. courts. There are few exceptions.

These Supreme Court cases were belatedly allowed to proceed due to a 1996 law, the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act. Congress passed it after the Cuban government shot down civilian planes flown by members of the Brothers to the Rescue group, killing three U.S. citizens and one permanent resident.

Widely known as the Helms-Burton Act, the law made resolving property claims a condition for restoring full economic and diplomatic relations between the U.S.........

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