Civil Enforcement Information - American Express Travel Related Services Co., Inc. (1st action)

Date issued: Aug. 03 2007

TURBOFAC Commentary (217 words)

Notes:

1) Presumed theory of liability would be "travel-related services in which Cuba or Cuban nationals had an interest," as with the Travelocity.com case, issued the same day (Civil Enforcement Information - Travelocity, Inc.). As of 2019, 515.572 contains a general license that may cover the activity described herein.

2) One of many Cuba-related cases in which the subsidiary subject to the CACR was also subject to a local "blocking" regulation preventing compliance with the CACR. ( “Ley de Protección al Comercio y la Inversión de Normas Extranjeras que Contravengan el Derecho Internacional,” D.O., 22 de Octubre de 1996.)

"In February 2006, the Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel in Mexico City ordered 16 Cuban guests to leave an energy conference hosted by the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association on orders from the U.S. Treasury Department. The U.S. Treasury Department order was issued pursuant to the Cuba embargo regulations, the CACR, which forbid even non-U.S. companies to transact with Cuban persons if, like the Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel, they are U.S. owned or controlled. Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez immediately criticized the U.S. Treasury Department’s decision: “There does not exist and neither should there exist the extraterritorial application of this law [the embargo] in our nation.” See http://www.nftc.org/default/usa%20engage/Foreign%20Sanctions%20Countermeasures%20Study.pdf.