AN Irish company could be threatened by sanctions the White House is expected to announce today to discourage foreign corporations investing in Cuba.
EdenBrook Investments, described by the US as engaged in biotechnology, is on a list of more than 300 companies identified as involved in business dealings with "the Castro regime" or in "discussions with Cuban officials". Senior executives (and their families) of offending companies, even their lawyers, can be banned from travelling to the US.
The US Congress compiled the list, which was made available to a delegation of MEPs in Washington last week. The State Department denies there is an official `blacklist" but has begun moving against some foreign firms.
President Clinton had until midnight last night to decide whether to waive the application of Title Ill of the so called Helms Burton Act. The law penalises foreign companies which invested in property in Cuba which was expropriated from US corporations at the time of the takeover of power by Fidel Castro in 1959.
Originally President Clinton was expected to veto the Bill but when two US aircraft flown by Cuban exiles were shot down by the Cuban airforce last March he allowed the legislation through. The Cuban vote is seen as a key factor in Florida in the November presidential election.
Under another section of the Act already in force, the US government can ban the entry into the country of the head of offending foreign companies, the senior executives and their families. Warning letters have been sent to the Sherritt Canadian mining company and the threat has scared off another Canadian company, Carl son, from going ahead with plans to build hotels and restaurants in Cuba.
The Helms Burton Act does not target companies which trade with Cuba but only those which can be shown to be engaged in joint ventures involving property formerly owned by US corn panics. If President Clinton does not sign the waiver clause, the way will be open for these foreign companies to be sued in US courts for compensation.
The proposed measures have caused an outcry in the EU where many suspected companies are based, especially in Spain, Britain, France, Italy and Germany. The EU is threatening reprisals.
Canada and Mexico are also protesting strongly against the measures which they say contravene the free trade agreement linking them to the US.
The New York Times, in an editorial headed "The Cuba Boomerang", urges President Clinton to use the waiver.