Topic
The Cuban Assets Control Regulations, Cuban trademarks and the long tail of the embargo.
For more than two decades, Title III of the Helms-Burton Act sat suspended. In 2026, the Supreme Court read it broadly twice in five weeks. A cigar heritage case shows both the reach of the statute and its most important limit.
Cubaexport defeated Bacardi's Havana Club appeal in June, then lost the registration in August when no acceptable maintenance filing was made. With COHIBA argued in September, the two cases now frame how Cuban marks live and die in U.S. law.
The Cuban state's partner in Habanos S.A. traces back, according to reporting, to a businessman the U.S. Treasury designated in October 2025. The fallout has reached factories in the Dominican Republic and Honduras and distributors in Europe, and it shows how ownership sanctions travel.
OFAC tightened the Cuban Assets Control Regulations and created a second Cuba sanctions program on the same day. The headlines are about banks and travel. For cigar companies, the more interesting story is what was left alone.
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