the heart is the helms burton but the embargo is also full of holes. some said i.t. has more holes than cheese. you have to know where the holes are so you don't fall into it. >> canadian companies have gone in, can american countries catch up? >> the european companies will be overwhelmed. we will overwhelm them. we are a tsunami of investment and interest and we are 90 miles away. and there are 2 million cuban americans here that can be the ambassadors for both sides. we can be the you know the people that facilitate the business. >> what will go first? what companies do you think will get into cuba first? >> travel and tourism. that's the low-hanging fruit. that's the easy one. that's easy because i always call travel and tourism is the thing that pulse the cuban train. they have done a little bit in infrastructure. they have hotels. the island is stunningly beautiful. they love americans and they love tourists. >> there are still serious infrastructure problems in cube. >> very serious infrastructure. you name it, they have it. cuba needs to rebuild its power gri

>> the heart of it is so-called helms burton where there are a number of auxiliary laws around it. but it has more holes than cheese. you got to know where the holes are so you don't fall into it. >> how prepared are they, it is one thing for lawyers to be called saying, hey we might be interested in going to cuba but will things really change? >> first it is companies want to assess, what is it i can and cannot do, according to law and what is it in cuba, once they assess that and say i still have an appetite, the decision any company goes through, the decision of cost benefit analysis. before deploying capital, people are going to want to know, what are the opportunities in cuba, how long is it going to be to ramp up, am i going to be able to get my profits out, what's the labor situation, am i going to be able to get management, what does the market look like and what do the employees look like? >> those are questions that can't be answered overnight and then as things stand now, the cuban government would force any company going in to work with the government. how many american

the helms burton act specifically states that all property claims must be satisfactorily resolved before the u.s. economic embargo against cuba can be lifted. but cuba believe it has another card up its sleeve to ultimately negotiate a deal in which both sides agree to call it even. >> they'll have to accept otherwise there isn't going to be any deal. and of course the prize is development in cuba. >> many american companies that were expropriated, are eager to return to the island, but the message will have to be they will have to drop their claims or stay out. lucia newman, al jazeera, be havana. >> joining me is jason marzack. thank you for joining me this evening. these claims go back decades and have been accruing interest alt this time. how clear are they about receiving compensation? >> these are pretty gigantic claims dating back to the he 1960s. the 6,000 properties that were seized amount to $1.8 billion. with interest over the last 50 some odd years this has to be around a $7 billion claim. some of these claims are by the companies but a lot of these claims are individual clai

as the american president complained, the helms burton act still sanctions even foreign countries that do business with cuba and the u.s. still, there's consensus that it's only a matter of time before these remnants of the cold war, like so many other things in cuba, become a thing of the past, and eventually melt away. lucia newman, al jazeera, hershey, cuba. >> john cavalick joins us from los angeles. good to have you on the program. from a business standpoint, is cuba fool's gold or a real business opportunity, at this moment? >> you were right to qualify it. at this moment. >> yeah. >> the u.s. business community is looking at cuba today in an aspirational way. we look at it as we hope it to be, we don't pay as much attention to what it is. and that's a challenge. everyone's going to have to sort of step back and realize that these are moments within moments and they're chapters in a book. and so there are some opportunities that exist, but the u.s. business community has to be cautious, but also, has to be educated and they need to take time to understand what they can and can't