{"id":297696,"date":"2024-03-07T12:58:12","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T17:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=297696"},"modified":"2024-03-07T12:58:12","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T17:58:12","slug":"airbnb-sued-for-benefiting-from-property-confiscated-by-cuban-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba-usa\/airbnb-sued-for-benefiting-from-property-confiscated-by-cuban-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Airbnb sued for benefiting from property confiscated by Cuban government"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. company Airbnb, dedicated to promoting tourist rentals around the world, has been <\/span>sued<\/b><\/a>\u00a0for illegally benefiting through its website from a property allegedly <\/span>confiscated<\/b><\/a>\u00a0by the Cuban government in the 1960s without paying compensation to its owners.<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>report<\/b><\/a>\u00a0in the newspaper <\/span>El Nuevo Herald<\/span><\/i> states that this would be the first lawsuit that alleges \u201ctrafficking\u201d linked to businesses with a residential property on the island. The lawsuit was filed this Monday in the court of the central district of Florida, based in Orlando.<\/span><\/p>\n

It argues that Airbnb benefited from advertising a rental in a six-apartment building located in a Havana neighborhood, originally owned by the Parre\u00f1o family, including Alberto Parre\u00f1o.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the publication, the Department of Justice\u2019s Foreign Claims Settlement Commission certified Parre\u00f1o\u2019s claim to one-third of the land and building in 1970, valued at that time at $547,365.24.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parre\u00f1o, a U.S. citizen, died in 1972. Javier Garc\u00eda-Bengochea, his cousin and administrator of his estate, is the person who now filed the lawsuit.<\/span><\/p>\n

The allegedly injured party states that Airbnb continued to advertise the property between August 2019 and May 2022, after being notified that it was subject to a lawsuit.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this way, the company would have trafficked the property \u201cin a conscious, voluntary, intentional and continuous manner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The same medium, in an <\/span>article<\/b><\/a>\u00a0from January 2022, had echoed the case. At the time, the company told the <\/span>Herald<\/span><\/i> that it \u201cwould investigate the allegations and take action, including removing the ad if it was found to violate its policies,\u201d which ended up happening.<\/span><\/p>\n

The report adds that Airbnb did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the new circumstance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year the company accepted the responsibility of not complying with all the legal requirements of the United States to work in the Cuban market, for which it agreed to pay a fine of just over 91,000 dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n

An open window<\/b><\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda-Bengochea, a Cuban-American neurosurgeon based in Jacksonville, actively lobbied Congress and several administrations to enforce a provision of the <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Helms-Burton Act of 1996<\/b><\/a>, also known as the Libertad Act, that would allow companies doing business in Cuba to be sued for \u201ctrafficking in confiscated property,\u201d the report stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The right to sue had been suspended by every U.S. president since the law was first enacted but was restored during Donald Trump\u2019s administration.<\/span><\/p>\n

This policy change led to an avalanche of lawsuits against U.S., foreign, and Cuban government entities that did business with confiscated properties, mostly hotels, mines, ports, airports, and land, the Florida newspaper highlighted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Four shipping companies sued for sailing to Cuba appeal decision of Miami judge to stop the case<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n