The law firm of Harper Meyer Perez Ferrer & Hagen LLP is well positioned to assist those of its many US and multi-national clients who are contemplating opportunities in Cuba, in anticipation of significant increases in trade with that island nation resulting from imminent changes in its political structure. “We are advising our clients to be very careful not to violate any US laws and regulations as they contemplate possible future business in Cuba,” says George Harper, Managing Partner of Harper Meyer. “As of now, the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, the Cuban Democracy Act and the Helms-Burton Act are still very much alive, and no one contemplating doing business there should do so without the proper license. We are ready on short notice to advise our clients when the time to invest in, or to trade with, Cuba is proper. It’s not there yet, but it could be very soon.”

Harper is a well known Cuban-American lawyer in Miami who left Cuba at the age of 17 after Fidel Castro seized his family’s cattle ranch operation in the Province of Las Villas. Today, Harper is a legal community leader on the topic of Cuba. He has spoken on numerous occasions to civic and legal groups regarding the legal reforms that would be required for commercial activities to function properly in a free Cuba. He has been featured on several occasions in nationally televised interviews by some of the major US television networks and has been featured on several more occasions on programs of Radio and TV Marti, a federally funded broadcast intended for the Cuba audience. Most recently, Harper was interviewed by the History Channel in connection with an episode of its series “Exposed” which examined the Castro regime.

Together with his partner, James Meyer, Harper was able to successfully negotiate the release of hundreds of thousands of dollars frozen by the US Government in connection with the estate of a wealthy Cuban businessman whose family emigrated to the US after the rise of Castro. Both Harper and Meyer have been engaged in many polemic discussions with both the Cuban-American and Cuban-national legal communities regarding property rights and other issues. They have also discussed these issues recently with the State Department’s Cuba Policy Advisor and several Members of Congress. Meyer traveled to Cuba in 1992 and again in 2002, and Harper addressed the US/Cuba Legal Forum, an association of Cuban lawyers in Havana in 2002 in addition to attending a legal exchange there in 2000.

Harper Meyer is uniquely situated to address the imminent changes in Cuba, especially with its two Cuban-American partners, Manuel Perez and Juan Carlos Ferrer, who specialize in international corporate matters and real estate investment and development, as well as partner Steve Hagen, who works almost exclusively in the area of international taxation.

For more information, please contact George Harper or James Meyer at http://www.harpermeyer.com/ or 305-577-3443.