By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

         WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Clinton suspended for another six
          months a law that would let Americans sue people using U.S. property
          confiscated after Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

          The right for American companies and citizens to sue in U.S. courts is in
          a law Congress approved in 1996, but the legislation gave the president
          authority to waive or enforce the provision at six-month intervals.

          Clinton has exercised the waiver authority since the law was approved,
          much to the annoyance of Cuban-American lawmakers and the chairman
          of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jesse Helms, R-N.C.,
          co-author of the legislation with Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind.

          The Helms-Burton act was designed to discourage foreign investment in
          Cuba by punishing foreign companies investing in property confiscated
          from Americans.

          The State Department lists 5,911 U.S. firms and citizens whose property
          was nationalized without compensation by the Cuban government, mostly
          in the 1960s.

          ``I believe this action will enhance efforts by the United States to
          strengthen international cooperation aimed at promoting peaceful
          democratic change in Cuba,'' the president said in a statement released in
          Little Rock, Ark., where he addressed a joint session of the Arkansas
          General Assembly.

          What President-elect Bush decides to do in July, the next six-month
          interval, will be an indicator of the new administration's view of Cuba.

          Clinton said the United States has worked to step up international
          pressure on the Cuban government to respect human rights and to begin
          political and economic reforms.

          ``Our friends and allies have joined us by taking concrete actions to try to
          hasten the day when Cuba will join the community of democratic
          nations,'' he said.