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The Cost of Freedom? $200 Billion

And that's just Miami attorney Nick Gutierrez's exit fee:

He is handling nearly 400 claims against Cuba's government, mostly on behalf of exiles who left their homeland in a hurry and had their property seized after Castro's guerrillas entered Havana and took power nearly half a century ago.

Castro's retirement this week raises hopes that the property claims will finally be settled, Gutierrez said in an interview on Wednesday. "We may still be years away but we're closer to the end."

He says U.S. citizens and companies lost roughly $8 billion at today's prices in confiscated property in Cuba and have 5,911 claims pending with the U.S. government's Foreign Claims Settlement Commission.

The nationalized property of Cubans far exceeds that, however, and Gutierrez said it could total as much as $200 billion. "You're talking about some serious, serious value."

Full post as published by South Florida Lawyers on February 22, 2008 (boomark / email).