Cuba Loses Appeal in the UK Supreme Court

The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court has denied Cuba permission to appeal again in the case against CRF I Limited (CRF I Ltd).

CRF I Ltd is an investment fund based in the Cayman Islands that has dedicated resources to acquiring credit instruments related to Cuba’s defaulted sovereign debt.

The fund brought the case to trial in 2023, seeking payment of around 75 million USD — including principal and accrued interest — out of the approximately 1.4 billion USD in Cuban debt held by CRF I Ltd. The defendants in the case were the National Bank of Cuba (BNC) and the Cuban State.

The trial also addressed the legitimacy of CRF I Ltd as the holder of Cuban debt and whether the Cuban State, and not just the BNC, could be considered the debtor.

After a lengthy legal process involving several appeals, on April 7, 2025, the UK Supreme Court denied the BNC permission to appeal the case against CRF I Ltd once again, bringing the process to an end.

What does this mean?

Cuba can no longer challenge the London court’s ruling in any other legal forum, and the case now becomes enforceable. While it remains uncertain whether CRF I Ltd will succeed in collecting the money, this stage in the legal process sets a precedent by recognizing CRF I Ltd’s legitimacy as a holder of Cuban debt. It also leaves the door open for new lawsuits in which the fund may seek to prove that the BNC, the Cuban State, and the debtor are one and the same entity.

Can Cuba Choose Not to Pay Off Its Debt?

It is a sovereign power of the States to pay or not to pay the debt to their international creditors. But the choice will have consequences.

This article was translated into English from the original in Spanish.