In his 41 years of power, Fidel Castro has nationalized, "intervened" or otherwise appropriated $1 billion worth of U.S. investments in Cuba. Last week, on the eve of the tenth anniversary celebration of his 26th of July movement, he grabbed about the only thing left to takeĀaside from the big naval base at Guantanamo Bay. Castro "expropriated" the $1,200,000, seven-story former U.S. embassy building on the Havana waterfront.
Under well-established international practice, embassy property is regarded as inviolable even after a break in diplomatic relations. Castro, who needs no precedents, said he was merely...