Roundup: Compensation, another thorny issue in Cuba-U.S.ties

Cuba and the United States have both demanded compensation from each other for economic losses, representing one of the thorniest issues on the complex road to the normalization of bilateral ties.

Cuba said the five-decade U.S.-led trade embargo, which it described as more than a blockade, has robbed the country of up to 834 billion U.S. dollars, according to the report that the Cuban government will submit to the upcoming United Nations General Assembly.

Washington, meanwhile, said it suffered great loss due to the nationalization of firms and property following the 1959 Cuban Revolution which ousted the U.S.-backed dictatorship and brought Fidel Castro, and later his brother Raul, to power.

"This is an extremely complicated subject," Josefina Vidal, head of U.S. affairs in the Cuban Foreign Ministry, said after the first meeting of the bilateral commission charged with addressing these differences.

"I imagine that when the two countries begin to meet, one of the first things we will have to do is to clarify all the accounts," added the diplomat, who served as Cuba's main negotiator as the two sides worked to restore diplomatic ties which they did on July 20.

According to Vidal, Cuba officially registered its complaint against "the economic and human harm" done by the embargo at Havana's Provincial Court in 1999 and 2000.

At that time, economic losses were estimated to be around 120 billion dollars, and the damage to individuals, 181 billion dollars, but "that was 15 years ago. We would need to recalculate these figures and include the elapsed time," said Vidal.

"I don't mean that this is exactly what we will do. It is only an example of how complicated the situation is," Vidal added.

Cuban assets in the United States that were frozen and then used to pay claims there will also be put on the table, said the diplomat.

"There were Cuban accounts that were frozen in the United States and disappeared because the United States took the money to pay several people who filed suits against our country, and that money belongs to the government-owned Cuban companies and Cuba's National Bank," said Vidal.

"We still haven't begun the conversation," she acknowledged, adding that "people who will discuss this topic will be highly specialized."

On Wednesday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez published the annual report the government will submit to the UN General Assembly in support of a resolution to condemn the blockade.

"Till April 2015, the accumulated damages of the blockade increased to 833.755 million dollars, according to the value of gold on the international market," Rodriguez said.

In the U.S. Congress, Republican senators wanted to force the Caribbean island to pay 7 billion-8 billion dollars in compensation for U.S. properties taken over by the socialist government, in some cases after their owners fled to the United States.

"Many families and entities in the United States and around the world deserve just compensation for the properties confiscated by the Castros in Cuba. That are currently unsettled," U.S. Republican Senator and presidential hopeful Marco Rubio said in May.

Rubio, a senator for the state of Florida, where many of Cuba's wealthy and influential families relocated themselves after the revolution, presented a bill called the "Cuban U.S. Claims Settlement Act," which basically required Cuba to pledge to repay the claims "before the U.S. eases restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba."

Cuban President Raul Castro and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama surprised the world on Dec. 17 with a joint announcement on agreeing to restore diplomatic ties severed by Washington in 1961.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Rodriguez announced the creation of the bilateral commission on Aug. 14, as Kerry visited Cuba to officially reopen the U.S. embassy in Havana. Endi