LatinNews Daily - 05 April 2023

*Cuba’s government led by President Miguel Díaz-Canel has claimed victory after British judge Sara Cockerill ruled that London’s High Court has no jurisdiction to hear a lawsuit brought by investment firm CRF I Ltd, a Cayman Island registered investment fund, against Cuba over two unpaid loans although the case can continue against Cuba’s former central bank Banco Nacional de Cuba (BNC). CRF 1 (formerly known as the Cuba Recovery Fund) says it has accumulated US$78m of historic Cuban commercial debt originally issued by BNC and has for several years been trying to reach an agreement with the government to secure phased repayment. The ruling announced yesterday only concerns whether the lawsuit can proceed in London. Reuters cites CRF’s chairman David Charters as saying in a statement that “BNC was the central bank of Cuba and remains responsible for managing these unpaid Cuban debts… Cuba won a technical point in this judgment which we have already remedied and we do not expect this issue to impact the eventual final outcome, which is a complete victory for CRF.”