Bermudian-based drinks giant Bacardi has asked a US government department to revoke its decision to grant the Cuban government the right to renew and maintain the trademark for Havana Club rum.

The move is the latest in a long-running battle between Bacardi, forced to leave Cuba after the 1959 revolution propelled Communist Fidel Castro to power, and the country’s Communist administration.

Bacardi has written to the US Officer of Foreign Assets Control asking them to reverse its decision to grant the rights to Cuba in January. Eduardo Sanchez, senior vice-president and general counsel at Bacardi, said: “OFAC’s decision to grant the license to the Cuban government reverses its prior decision in 2006 to deny that very same licence.