By the BBC's Greg Morsbach from Cuba. Thursday, 12 July,
2001, 19:57 GMT 20:57 UK. BBC News Online
US President George W Bush has until 17 July to make a decision on the Helms
Burton Law.
If he allows it to come into force, exiled Cuban US citizens will have the
chance to sue overseas companies which are benefiting from properties seized
after Cuban revolution of 1959.
The cost to the five hundred or so European and Canadian companies on the
island could run to billions of dollars.
Jorge La Madrid, a senior Cuban diplomat, says anything is possible.
"We are not expecting anything from this new administration. Regarding
the waiver of the Helms Burton Law I think the ones who have an uncomfortable
position are the European countries because if President Bush decides not to
implement the waiver, the European companies will be the ones who will be under
threat by this legislation."
Last year, tourists contributed $2bn to Cuba's economy in bars, hotels and
restaurants - half of total exports and services.
This, too, could be about to change.
Foreign companies might think twice about doing business in Cuba if they
were to find out their senior executives and their families and shareholders
were barred from entering the US.
The current craze for Cuban salsa music sweeping across Europe has done much
to boost visitor numbers.
One entrepreneur cashing in on the current boom is Amado Fakhre, a British
investor.
But he is building a five star hotel in Havana he is not too worried about
the posturing by Mr Bush.
"Most investors who come to invest in Cuba have already come to terms
with that risk and it's factored into their calculations," says Mr Fakhre.
But President Bush is under heavy pressure to act from many thousands of
exiled Cubans in the US.
Their main pressure group, the Cuban American National Foundation, is trying
to persuade the government to use the Helms Burton Law as a real stick against
Cuba, explains spokesman Dennis Hayes.
"Nations no longer have a right to steal property and not to compensate
people for it. We believe we're on a sound footing. As for the President...he
has spoken clearly and forcefully on the issue of Cuba over the past few years."
We have great confidence in him and we're quite hopeful he'll see this as a
step that moves the process forward and enables us to get to the day when Cuba
becomes a Democratic, free market economy."
On the other hand, President Bush also has a very powerful American business
lobby leaning on him which doesn't want trade with Cuba wrapped up in extra red
tape.
"Cuba is the only place in the world in which there is no American
competition. That's why we've received hundreds of American companies who're
interested in doing business with our country," says Jorge La Madrid.
The European Commission is threatening to take the US to the World Trade
Organisation if Mr Bush implements the controversial legislation.
And that could mean Cuba becomes the flashpoint for an international trade
war. | 
